On the Backend of Forever
by Rakka-chan
Summary: Vanity seems like just a defective homunculus. but is there really more to this mysterious new sin ? and just who is Apollo, the ruler of Exire, and why is he after the Elic's lives? i cant write summaries to save my lifeformerly The 8th Sin i chaged the
1. The 8th Sin

_Disclaimer: I do not own FMA nor the characters but I do own the character Vanity and the story!_

Chapter 1: the 8th Sin

Throughout the cold and dark halls echoed the footsteps of a young girl. Her long black hair swayed behind her with each step as she roamed the halls aimlessly. She was frightened and alone. She had no idea where she was or who she was for that matter. She finally found some place of light and looked at herself in a broken mirror. She wore a black top cut off at the stomach and baggy black pants the tied off at her shins. On her stomach was a strange red dragon tattoo.

She turned around quickly after hearing footsteps. Looking into the shadows she saw the figure of a woman dressed in black with long black wavy hair.

"So you are our new little 'member'?" she said walking closer to the girl.

"W-Who are you? ... Who am I? And what is this place?" she asked

"Aha, you will see soon enough….. but your name is Vanity. Now come with me" she motioned for her to fallow her.

Vanity fallowed her out of curiosity and fear of being left alone again.

They came to a big door with strange symbols all over it. It opens to reveal a dimly lit room. Over on the other side of the room where 6 dark figures, moving around among themselves. The woman pushes Vanity towards the figures and they all stop to see what was going on.

"Who's this, Lust?" asked a tall man w/ an eye patch

"She's the new girl… right?" Lust pushed Vanity forward towards the others. Now in the light, she noticed that all of them had that same red dragon tattoo.

"The new girl, huh? OK then whose gonna be stuck with bein' partners w/ 'er?" asked another tall man w/ sunglasses and the tattoo on his left hand.

"Hmmm….." Lust looked around at the others, trying to see who could "teach" Vanity everything she needed to know… "…Envy will do it."

They all looked over at a boy with long black-green hair leaning against a table. "What was that! You're kidding me right?"

"No, I'm not" she pushes Vanity towards Envy and grins at him. "She's all yours"

They all snicker and go back to what they where doing before. Envy was still grumbling at the thought of having to be partners with another newbie.

"Umm Envy was it… I-I'll try to do my best" she bowed very politely to him slightly blushing.

"….. Feh, you're pathetic" he placed his hand under her chin and tilted her head up so her eyes met his. "Hey, now that I see you… you're kinda pretty and cute" Vanity blushed again

"Uhhh errr well I…"

Envy smiled and snickered a little. "So, I suppose I should show you your room…."

He brings her to a small room w/ a little bed in the corner, and the only other furnisher in the room is a small dresser.

"Yea, it's not much but…."

"I don't mind…." She was looking around at the room. Although she still didn't quite know what was going on, she felt somewhat at home here.

"This place is where we live while we're not on 'missions'… Do what you want for today and I'll teach you all you need to know tomorrow." Envy grumbled a bit and left closing the door behind him.

Vanity flopped onto the small bed and sighed. "_Where am I? Who are these people and why do they all have the same red dragon on them… and why do I have it too?"_ she thought while looking at her hand. "So, my name is Vanity, that woman's name was Lust I think, and the boy who's going to help me is Envy…. sigh this is all too much." She slowly fell asleep, still thinking about where and who exactly she was.

She woke up to Lust banging on the door across the hallway from Vanity's room. She got up to go see what was going on. "ENVY! WAKE UP! I TOLD U NOT TO SAY UP PLAYING CARDS W/ GREED ALL NIGHT!" Lust was furious and Vanity crept out into the hall.

"_Envy lives there?"_

"ARGH DAMN LUST JUST SHUT UP I'M COMMIN' UUGGGHHH……bleh." Envy stumbled out glaring at Lust. "Whaaat?"

"You know 'what' get going….." Lust walked off.

Envy looked over at Vanity who was still surprised on how angry Lust is in the morning. "You should see her when she's not in a good mood….. sigh come on follow me I guess."

Vanity snapped out of her daze and replied "Y-Yes sir!" and ran to catch up w/ Envy.

"You don't have to call me 'sir'… in fact don't." He just continued to glare off into nothing.

"Y-Yes si—I mean Envy-san!" She bowed to him as an apprentice would to a master.

"….. Yeah whatever".

They continue to walk thru the many halls. Envy seemed to know his way around pretty well. Then a little boy w/ long black hair that covers the left side of his face runs up all energetic.

"Envy Nii-san! What are we doin' today huh huh huh?"

"Nothing Wrath… and how many times do I have to say that I'M NOT YOUR BROTHER!"

"WAAAHH your so mean! Why not? Why not?" Wrath whined even more and couldn't stay in one place very long… he'd obviously had some form of sugar.

"Because…." Envy looked around for an excuse "… I-I have to help out the new girl!" He grinned and pointed to Vanity.

Wrath glared at her then turned to Envy again. "You'd rather have her as your partner today instead of me!"

"Uhhh yeah!"

Wrath looked like he was going to cry. "WHAT! WHY!"

Envy snickered and thought of a way to get rid of Wrath. "Because she's soooooo nice and cute and more powerful than you and I like her better!" Envy grinned and wrapped one arm around Vanity. She blushed a little and looked away from him so he didn't see.

"….. FINE, YOU MEANIE!" Wrath stormed off and Envy laughed.

"Yes, now he won't follow me around today!"

"C-Can you let go of me now…." Envy just grinned even more

"Why? You don't like me?" She still didn't look at him and he let go of her.

"OK well we're almost there so come on…" Envy walked off through the halls again and Vanity ran to catch up then followed behind him.

_Ok! That's chapter 1 folks! Sorry if it sucked this is only my second ever fan fiction ; _

_but any ways I'll try to make ch2 soon and if u think u know where this is all going (aka _

_an Envy X Vanity fan fiction) I'm not gonna say you're wrong and I'm not gonna say ur _

_right…only time will tell Whooooooooosh! XD oh and I don't know too much about some of the sins… like where they live or if they live anywhere! Hence the reason why I made Wrath sound like Momiji from fruits basket…_

_PLEASE REVIEW! THANK YOU!_


	2. Unfinished Homunculi?

_Disclaimer: I do not own FMA or the characters just the character Vanity and the story_

_OK it seems I must clear some things up from some reviews I got!_

_Some people said that I made the characters too OOC… ok didn't I say at the end that I HAVEN'T seen a lot of episode's w/ the sins in it… I am a poor unfortunate soul who's is forced to only watch the dubbed version._

_Second, some have said that Envy began to like Vanity too easily. I never said that he did like her, he only acted like it to piss Wrath off._

_Third some said where's Dante? I'd point to the last sentence of the 1st paragraph, but Shes in this chapter. Also some say "there is no 8th sin yadda yadda…" well that's why this is a FAN FICTION! Besides all will be explained in this chapter ok that's all!_

Chapter 2: The Unfinished homunculi

In another room, Pride sat thinking about some thing which made Lust ask, "What is it?"

"….. That girl… why is she even here she's not like us. Besides there are only suppose to be seven of us right?"

Lust looked at him as if she knew the answer to his questions. "Well…. Your right there is only supposed to be seven… but when she was created as the alternate… there was a glitch and… she was created but was never animated. She remained dormant for so long but was still given a name…. why she's awake now I don't know, but I don't think it maters."

Pride looked at Lust "So, is that why she's not… err 'in character' I should say, because she's an unfinished project brought to life?"

"For now she isn't…. her personality will surface soon enough. Until then we should focus on more important things." Lust left the room and disappeared into the darkness of the halls.

"ACHOOOOOOOO!" Vanity sneezed all over Envy and he jumped 5 feet in the air.

"WHAT THE HELL, WOMAN!" He wiped himself off still glaring at her.

"Oh I'm sooo sorry…." Vanity replied a bit sarcastically. She was a little mad at him for using her just to get rid of Wrath.

"You'd better be…. Now come on we're almost there…." Envy muttered to himself over and over "why'd I get stuck w/ this stupid job!" and some times sped up around corners to try and lose her.

They walked until they reached a door, and went through it. It opened out to the outside world… well into an alley.

"OK listen up girl cuz I'm NOT repeating myself! If I had to guess I'd bet that you can't throw a straight punch to save your life let alone be of ANY use! So I'm gonna help you with that by going through some easy little mission and picking on some weakling alchemist… got it?"

Vanity muttered to herself "I'll show you, you stupid palm tree-headed, skirt wearing little….."

"What was that?"

"Err… Yes Envy!" She gave him a fake smile and he just glared at her even more.

"Riiight…."

He transformed himself into some random guy and walked out of the alley and onto the sidewalk. Vanity ran to catch up to him, but she couldn't shape-shift so she was stuck as herself. She continued to glare at him and thought to herself, "_Geez, what's his problem? Greed must've killed him at cards or something…nahh I bet he's always like this. I wonder if all of them are like this… I gotta get out of here."_ She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't see the man walking by her. So she ran right into him and fell backwards.

"OMMPH!"

The man glared at her and was furious "HEY WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING BITCH!"

Envy looked back at the man yelling at Vanity and watched. "B-But u ran into me!"

"AHAHAHA ok girly what ever you say! Now just apologize and get lost!"

"No! You ran into me! You should apologize!"

The man's eye twitched a bit and his friend came from behind and picked her up by the neck.

"So, you gonna apologize girly?" the two men snickered as Vanity kept kicking her feet and trying to get free.

Envy still watched from afar _"Stupid girl…I should leave her and see what happens." _ He thought.

"UGGHHH!" Vanity kept kicking and struggling but the man wouldn't let go. They both laughed at her feeble attempts to be free. "YOU JERKS!" She kicked the first man in the face and he fell backwards.

"W-WHY YOU LITTLE…!" the second man threw Vanity against the wall and pulled out a pocket knife. Envy came from behind and grabbed the man's arm and bent it back, breaking his arm.

"That's enough…" He glared at Vanity again and threw the man to the ground. He muttered something to himself then grabbed Vanity by the arm and led her away.

He threw her back into the same alley that they came from and transformed back into his original form.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!"

Vanity looked at Envy like she was scared. "That man isn't dead is he….?"

Envy put his hand to his head and rubbed his temples shaking his head in disbelief of what she said. "If he did die why would that matter! What's wrong with you!"

She looked away from him looking like she was mad at him.

"….And stop pretending to be mad or what ever the hell you're doing!"

Vanity looked down at the ground this time, trying not to make eye contact w/ him. "I don't even know what I am let alone what I'm supposed to be…" She turned back to the door that led back to where the sins stayed and walked through it.

Envy still stood there. "Tch… stupid girl."

Wandering through out the halls, Vanity saw Lust, Pride, and Gluttony talking with a strange woman. ( well, Pride and Lust where talking…. Gluttony just sat there.)

Lust turned to see Vanity, "Vanity, come here…" She went over to Lust and the others and the other woman just kept staring at her oddly. "Vanity, this is Dante. Normally, each homunculus is greeted by her but she was away when you unexpectedly awoke…"

Vanity looked at Lust w/ a puzzled look.

"What a bother…" Dante muttered to herself. "Vanity, I think you should come with me…" Dante turned to walk down another hall and Vanity followed.

They walked through the halls until they reach the same halls that Vanity walked through when she first woke up. They came to a stop and Dante turned to Vanity. " Alright listen… you may already know this but…. You're not supposed to be here… in fact you shouldn't exist."

Vanity looked at Dante w/ the same puzzled look. "I know… sort of. Well I'm not like the others as in I don't act like it… but why do I have this sign on me if I'm not…." Vanity was referring to the red dragon tattoo on her stomach, the same one that all the other sins wore to identify themselves as the seven sins.

" Well, you were created as an 'alternate' should I say… but you where never finished and remained dormant w/ out a personality or any sign of life. Although you were never awake or completed, they kept you in a hidden place and named you 'Vanity' not as the sin but as 'a worthless or useless treasure or trinket'. Well I'm not saying that you're worthless and I'm not saying that you're useful, but I will allow you to stay and at least try to prove yourself. As for your personality, it'll probably never change because you're just some unfinished homunculi…"

"But I don't get it! If I'm supposed to be 'dead' then why am I awake now?"

Dante looked at her then looked at the ground. "… I don't know, but maybe I'll find out later. Well, that's all I had to say so remember, you have to prove that you're not worthless to stay, if not then I have no problem tossing you out."

She turned and left and Vanity looked down at her hands. "An unfinished homunculi…. Worthless trinket… Is that all I am?" She turned and walked through the halls again to find her room… but she was as lost as ever. "ARGH… maybe I am useless just like Dante and Envy said…"

_End of ch2! Hope yall liked it!_

_Well like I said last time. I haven't seen all of FMA so I don't know a lot about the sins and I don't claim that I do! Also I know that my grammar sucks, people! Although I have been writing out through instead of thru but my habit of the w/'s will soon be broken … I hope _

_Sorry if I made anyone seem too OOC or what ever… this is only my 2nd fan fiction EVER so be nice ;! It's like some people LIKE to point out my random OOC-ness and other stuff… AND WTF DOES 'MARY-SUE LIKE' MEAN! I'm confused…and if you do answer that question please do it nicely… I've hade it up to here with those "YOU JUST PLAIN SUCK BECAUSE OF THIS, THIS AND THIS!" comments…_

_PLEASE REVIEW! WHEATHER OR NOT CH3 WILL BE CREATED IS UP TO YOUR REVEIWS! _


	3. Song of Sorrow in the Glass Box

_Disclaimer: I do not own FMA or the characters just the character Vanity and this story!_

_Hey people! So here I am again! Thanks to your reviews and stuff! I actually didn't get any flames! But don't get me wrong, I don't mind constructive criticisms. It actually helps me out! But if I start to read the review and it's an all out flame I'll ignore it…but that's not why you all are here right? ON WITH THE STORY! (I'll deal with all this stuff at the end)_

Chapter 3: The Sorrowful Song in the Glass Box

Vanity had wandered the halls for about an hour until she finally found her room. Before she could go in, she noticed that Envy was standing outside the door. Remembering that his room is next to hers, she ignored him.

"So, what did Dante say?" He smirked at her, just thinking of what Dante might have said.

"She wanted to meet me, that's all…" She didn't look up at him but a ringing in her head whispered:

"_liar…"_

"Feh….. What ever! She's so mean; I bet she told you out huh?"

"No, she was actually nice." The voice came back again but a little louder.

"_liar…"_

Vanity turned around to see who was there… but there was no one.

Envy looked at her strangely, "What's wrong?"

"N-Nothing, I just need to rest OK. See you later …" She opened her door and walked in closing it behind her.

"… OOOOOK…." Envy turned and walked off.

"_Liar…"_

Vanity grabbed her head in pain. "What! What is this!" She thought as se stumbled over to her little bed in the corner.

"_LIAR…!"_

She fell onto the bed with her head throbbing. "W-What is going on with me…?" She whispered to herself as she drifted off to sleep.

Vanity was in a dark room all alone. The air was cold and everything around her was pitch black. "W-Where am I? Is this a dream… do homunculi even dream!" She wandered through the darkness until she saw a light. She went towards it and found herself in a huge room that looked like the inside of a chapel.

"What is this place? Huh…!" She saw a figure at the alter in the chapel praying. Vanity went closer to the person. The person stood up and faced Vanity.

"Oh umm excuse me, my name is Vanity. Do you know where—"

"LIAR! YOU DIRTY LIAR!" The person screamed.

"What! A-Are you the one who—"

"YOU LIAR! YOU THEIF! YOU STOLE EVERYTHING FROM ME! YOU DESERVE TO DIE AND FADE AWAY LIKE I DID!"

"What are you talking about!" The floor beneath her crumbled and she fell into the darkness again. When she opened her eyes again she could see the other homunculi in front of her, talking amongst them.

"Oh! Hey I—" She stopped herself when she realized that there was something between her and the others, glass. She was trapped in a glass box while the others walked freely. She pounded on the sides to get their attention. "LET ME OUT! PLEASE! CAN'T YOU HERE ME!" They paid no mind to her and began to walk away.

"NO! PLEASE LET ME OUT! DON'T LEAVE ME HERE ALONE!" No matter how hard she hit the sides of the box, it never broke. The darkness began to surround the box so that she'd be trapped forever. "NO PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME!" Her cries where futile as the darkness surrounded the box and closed her in.

It seemed like hours as Vanity drifted though the darkness again… all alone. But not to far away, a soft melody rang out followed by singing.

"**_In our days we've mourned insignias  
The passing glance unstamped  
We've rendered ourselves powerless, unfortunate  
The useless mend the fixed_**…"

The voice was familiar… it was the voice of the person who screamed out in Vanity's head. She looked out to the direction of the singing and saw the same figure a ways off, walking closer to her.

"**_And on every hour it detonates  
My courage goes unlooked  
The ride home through perilous  
The land it goes, I will…_**"

"Who are you? What is this place?" Vanity called out to the person as they walked closer still singing their melancholic tune.

"**_You've been a bad child  
You broke all the rules  
You've been a bad child  
You'll get yours paid in full_**…

**_I know that we'll never die  
I know that we'll never die  
You look down, but far from out,  
And the paper reads, "You lose."  
I know that we'll never kill._**"

"That song… what is it suppose to mean?" Vanity asked the person as they came to a stop not to far in front of her."…! Y-You're…!" She finally got a good look of the person. It was a girl who looked exactly like Vanity, but her eyes where cold and lifeless.

"_I am you. I am Vanity, the real Vanity. You are a fake…"_

"A-A fake? What do you mean!"

"_I am the one who is supposed to be in that body… you stole it from me... I never woke up and they locked me away to watch the rest of the world go by as I suffered alone in the dark. Then you stole my body and you're using it so that you can live! I never had that chance…You took everything from me! You deserve to be trapped here not me!"_

"So you've been trapped here for so long… So is that what that song means by 'I know that we'll never die?' But whose 'we' you're the only one right? And if I'm not 'Vanity" then who am I!"

"_Yes, 'We' is all homunculi… being trapped here proves to me that we never really die, we just leave our body… or maybe it's just me... And no one knows who you are or who you were before you came alive in my body. And even if you did find out, even if you did find what ever family and friends you had before, they won't remember you… it's like you never existed."_

"I-I never… existed? Then I'm just some random soul trapped in this- your body!"

"_I don't know who you are. I believe that's for you to find out…and once you do you'll leave my body and I will live on the outside, not you. So, I'll make a deal with you… you may use my body to find out who or what you are. Then, in return, I get to live on the outside and you have to leave my body forever. That is what you want right, to find who you really are?"_

Vanity nodded her head and looked up at the other, "real" Vanity. "OK… you're right I don't belong in this body… all I want is to find out who I am and why I'm here, then you can have your body back…"

"_Good. Then this song will help you… every one who knows it will know something about you and I. So learn it well and use it if you want…"_ The other Vanity began to sing the next part to the song as Vanity listened carefully…

"**_A favor captain, a word with you  
My systems gone and lost its mind  
My right eye has done shed a tear  
My gun I've left behind  
Will systems take me home and dissemble me?  
Will I be terminated with you near?  
Alongside the others that I hold so close  
If I'm to be killed, then when? By whom?_**

_**You've been a bad child  
You broke all the rules  
You've been a bad child  
You'll get yours paid in full  
**_

**_I know that we'll never die  
I know that we'll never die  
You look down, but far from out,  
And the paper reads, "You lose."  
I know that we'll never kill…_**

_**But you're dreams can't last forever**_

_**And I wish I would never… hurt again"**_

The song played on in her head as the night dragged on into the next morning…

_And so thus ends Ch3! Dun dun unnnnn! Ahah well thanks again for the reviews people! I do realize that my grammar sucks but I try to do good during the story… but during these little endings notes from the author things… I can care less! XD _

_Well, here's some stuff you should know about this chapter and fan fiction!_

_Ed IS going to be in this fan fiction… he comes much later though…_

_The song that Vanity sings in this chapter is called "IRO-bot". The lyrics where altered a bit but the song still belongs to the band Coheed and Cambria. They're my favorite band and there will probably be more references to they're songs later… but I'll point it out at the endings._

_I know I know! Homunculi probably don't dream or sleep for that matter but what ever it's part of the fan fiction! Well we've almost established that Vanity isn't much of a Homunculus anyways._

_That's about all I can think of so far…_

_On another note! Some people have requested using my character Vanity in one of their fan fictions… I have no problem with that as long as you give the credit back to me please . !_

_See you all in Chapter 4! PLEASE REVIEW!_


	4. Here in the Neverend

_Disclaimer: I do not own bla bla bla you know the drill… if not then where've you been!_

Chapter 4: Here in the Neverend

The next morning, Vanity ran to a room and burst though the door. "DANTE!" She wheezed, still trying to catch her breath.

Dante was talking with Lust before Vanity burst in. They both looked at her strangely, but Dante gave off an irritated glare. "What do you want that's so important as to—"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Please, Dante, tell me who I am! The other Vanity… err the real Vanity told me to find out who I am, and I thought that you would know!"

"Wait, the 'other Vanity'? You've gone insane and I don't know 'who you are' or what the hell you're talking about so get—"

"No, please! I know you know! I—" She looked up at Dante and noticed her irritated look still glaring at her. "Umm… 'In our days we've mourned insignias, the passing glance unstamped, we've rendered ourselves powerless, unfortunate, the useless mend the fixed…'"

"What on earth are you babbling about now!" Dante was on her last nerve with Vanity.

"Umm you don't know it? Oh no…" Vanity was all flustered and panicked. "_She's gonna throw me out for sure!"_ she thought.

"What's this? Gotten yourself into trouble already? You're hopeless…" Envy stood behind Vanity smirking at her, a little pleased at the thought of Dante yelling at the newbie… again.

"Envy, take her away before Dante throws both of you out…" Lust smirked at them both.

"Right, sure, what ever… Come on move it!" He led her away before Dante had to reinforce Lust's orders.

"That was odd… Dante, do you know what she was talking about?" Lust looked over to Dante who was pondering something.

"How… how does that girl know about _his _writings…"

……………………

"You've really outdone yourself! Why can't you be normal for at least one day?" Envy walked in front of Vanity, leading her away from Dante and Lust.

"But she didn't know about… that song…" Vanity walked with her head down, thinking of who to ask next.

"What 'song'? What the hell are you talking about?"

"Maybe I don't need to look for it here… maybe…"

"Look for what? Hey, why don't you try NOT thinking out loud?"

"I've got it! I know what I need to do!" She darted off in the direction of the door that leads to the outside world.

"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU—" Envy followed her but tried to stay pretty far off so she wouldn't notice that he followed her.

Once outside, she walked on the sidewalk, thinking of what to do next. "I kinda just ran out of there for no reason…" She didn't watch where she was going and once again ran into someone and they both fell backwards. "OOMPH!" She looked up to see who she ran into and who she needed to apologize to.

The boy that she ran into had bleach blonde hair and fair skin. He wore black pants and a white shirt with a long black coat over it. He looked at her with crimson eyes and he had a strange marking of a black circle over a triangle on the left side of his face.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" She got up and helped the boy to his feet.

He wobbled a bit and gave her a tired look. "No, it's fine… I was sleeping with my eyes open again…"

"OK, well bye then!" She ran off down the sidewalk again.

The boy looked back at her and smirked to himself. "I've found you…" He turned and continued on his way.

Envy, who had watched the whole thing from a roof top, watched as he left then went back to following Vanity.

She had been wandering around all day thinking of what to do next, but nothing came to her. She realized that this maybe harder than she thought and she might need some help if she was ever going to find out whom she was. It was late so she stopped at a pier and leaned against the rails to look out to the water. "sigh, what am I doing….?"

Envy came up to her and tapped her on the shoulder. "What the hell are you doing out here?"

"You didn't HAVE to follow me…" She didn't turn around to see him, hearing the annoyed tone in his voice told her enough.

"So, are you gonna tell me exactly what Dante told you now or are you gonna continue to pretend like you don't know what's going on?" He moved over to the left of her so he could see if she was even paying attention anymore.

She glanced at him then looked back out to the water. "Why do you care any ways?"

"Well was I right? Did Dante chew you out like I said?" he smirked.

"….."

"Well? Vanity? What did she say?"

"I'm not Vanity… I'm not even a sin… just some messed up unfinished homunculus."

"Huh? But if that's true then wouldn't you have been fed to make a philosopher's stone?"

"The person who created me wanted to keep me…. And they locked me away in a box… well not me the real Vanity."

"Real Vanity? Then what are you some imposter?"

"…..Yes… I don't know who I am, that's what I have to find out, and that's what I wanted to ask Dante. I thought that she might know that she might have the answers. That poem that I told to Dante was actually a song that the real Vanity taught me. She told me that everyone who knows it knows who I am and who she is."

The voice rang out in Vanity's head again, this time with a different song.

"**_When you've gone about things all wrong _**

_**Bury them here, with the life time you**_

_**Would never regret**_

_**In savoring sleep**_

_**What do you mean I toss turn everywhere?**_

_**I'll miss you when you're gone**_

_**Pretending that you meant the world to me**_

_**With that you'd call me a liar**_

_**In the making mistakes**_

_**You'll rest incomplete…"**_

She still stood there looking out to the water with her saddened eyes.

"So you thought that by coming out here you'd find someone who knew about that song? Wow you are stupid…"

"What could I have done!"

"Ask Dante. If it involves getting rid of you, she'd probably help out."

"**_When the hands read 7:30_**

_**And your night begins to sink**_

_**In the short but faster fall**_

_**When the day begins to break**_

_**Like the tears the run across your cheek**_

_**Stand straight and imagine you then**_

**_In the things and the way they could have been_**

_**When the thoughts they race across your chin**_

_**Here in the Neverend…"**_

"…Envy, do you hate being here?"

"You get used to it really. But where'd that come from? Is that why you want to find out who you are, to get out of here?"

"Sort of… You just seem to—"

"Not get along with anyone? I know… well Lust's always giving me orders, Sloth is always so quiet, Pride is always off doing what ever the hell he wants, Wrath is a whiney brat, I all out hate Greed, and Gluttony just eats and eats… FOREVER!"

She giggled a little at Envy's overreaction towards his fellow sins.

"_**Point you gun in another direction**_

_**Now that you've cried yourself to sleep**_

_**Here in there after the fall…"**_

"sigh, let's go back already before Dante has my head…" He turned and headed off towards the place where the sins lived.

She followed behind him still thinking to herself on how to find out who she was.

"_**When the days found figuring will he be home again?**_

_**With wide open windows will she be waiting for…?**_

_**With seven dark places when the days gone old and dead**_

_**I'll write her a letter in long time passing by…"**_

They made it back to their rooms and went their separate ways for the night. Before going to sleep, Vanity wrote on a piece of paper the words to the two songs that the other Vanity had told her. She knew they might come in handy later on so she folded the paper and put it under her bed.

She paused for a moment to remember the boy that she ran into today. "He looked at me like he knew me or something… Nah it must be my imagination…" And with that she went to sleep.

"_**I'll be home to say **_

_**I love you and I'll be moving on…"**_

………………………..

_CH 4 END!_

_Hewwo peoples! 'Tis I, the crazy stupid author of this crazy stupid fan fiction! _

_I apologize for the rather boring chapter… I promise I have BIG plans for chapters 5 through… what ever! Actually I don't really know how it's gonna end… but I do know what's gonna happen next and beyond! (well I sorta HAVE to know…)_

_TIME FOR STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW!_

_1 The song of this chapter is "Neverender" by Coheed and Cambria! They rock my socks XD once again the lyrics were altered but it still belongs to them._

_2 The boy in this chapter WILL return! He's actually a very important character in the plot… o and before any one asks, he is an OC._

_3 Ed and Al are coming soon! Patience…_

_That's all for now…_

_If you have any questions I'll be sure to answer them in CH5's stuff you should know._

_SEE YOU ALL IN CHAPTER 5! PLEASE REVIEW! (no flames… please dear God! Or at least have the decency as to give constructive criticisms instead…)_


	5. Maybe Memories

_Disclaimer: I do not own FMA just the character Vanity _

Chapter 5: Maybe Memories

It was dark, a pitch black night in a city near Central. On the roof of an abandoned building, a boy lies staring at the stars. Another dark figure jumps up to the roof, a girl with messy black hair wearing all black.

"Master, may I ask what you are doing?"

He didn't get up or turn to look at her; he only lied there still watching the stars. "I've found her, Tohmar… but…"

"Yes, Master?"

"I'm afraid my time is short… I can't sustain myself much longer on small lives like from animals and such…" He sat up and clenched his chest in pain.

Tohmar went to him and helped him up. "My Lord, perhaps you should try using human life?"

"…I don't know… but I only want to see her once more…"

"Rest assured my Lord, the plan is to be set into motion soon. You will find what you seek and then we will carry out our master plan. That is what you want, right my Lord?" She motioned towards four other dark figures standing behind them.

He smiled and then looked out to the sky. "Yes, Tohmar, it is. We will finally get what we seek. Vanity… I will see you again…"

"GASP!" Vanity sat up in her small bed and looked around. She was sure that she heard someone call her name. She decided that it wasn't important and went on her way out.

It was now a little over two months since she woke up in this strange place surrounded by people who call themselves "homunculi". She had gotten used to the place and the city outside so she hardly got lost anymore. Over the weeks she didn't really talk with the others as much as she should have. Lust was kind to her at times but didn't really care too much for her. Vanity never really talked to Greed, Pride or Gluttony, they didn't seem like they wanted to talk to her much anyways. Sloth only spoke with her when Vanity ran into her in the hallway and the only thing said was: "Oops sorry I didn't see you there!"

Wrath's room was next door to Vanity's so she talked with him a little… but it always ended in Wrath whining for "mommy". Envy had to be the one person that she knew the most. They were partners after all so she was stuck following him around a lot, which is where she was running off to. She had over slept a bit and Envy already headed out. She found him on a roof top, sitting there and eating a bread roll.

"Where'd you get that?" She sat down next to him and pointed to the bread.

"Stole it, and you're late…"

"I know … so where you that hungry that you had to steal some bread?"

"No, I was bored. And besides, homunculi don't get hungry, we don't even need to eat we just can."

"We don't?"

"No. Geez, you've been here for over two months and you don't know that yet?"

"… You're right I am pretty pathetic huh? I've been here for pretty long and I still don't know anything about who I am or why I'm here…"

Lust jumped up to the roof and stood behind them.

Envy threw the bread off the roof and turned to her. "What now, Lust?"

"Something's up… look down there." She pointed to the street below them to some military personnel carrying guns and rifles running through the alleyways.

"Do you think they know we're up here?" Envy watched as they looked around the corners of the alleys and ran though the streets.

"No, I know what it is… look." She pointed to the street behind them where a dark-skinned man in an orange coat and black pants ran from some military men.

"Scar…? Feh, let's get out of here. They don't need to know that we're here too." Envy got up and turned to leave.

"Yes, I'm sure Dante will want to know about this… Vanity, come on." Lust and Envy ran off towards the home of the homunculi.

"Oh! Wait up!" She got up and ran to catch up."WHHAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" While running, one of the shingles from the roof cracked and slipped under her feet causing her to fall backwards and off the roof into a pile of garbage knocking her out.

An hour after the military lost track of Scar, some other military personnel scavenged the streets for any clues left behind.

"This is stupid… there's nothing to be looking for out here…" Havoc crouched next to the street curb smoking another one of his cigarettes.

"I know just keep looking for now." Fury walked over by another alley and looked down it. He saw a pile of trash and something on top of it… the lifeless body of a girl. He was frozen stiff in horror.

"What's wrong with you?" Havoc looked up at Fury and got up to see what was wrong.

"It…. It's a…. AAAAHHHHHH! DEAD BODY!" Fury panicked and the sight of the "dead" girl.

"Shut up!" Havoc put his hand over Fury's mouth and they both walked towards the pile of trash. "Is she really dead? Havoc poked her with a stick from the ground around the trash.

"I don't know but we have to report this immediately!" Fury was still in panic mode and tried to keep as far away from the girl as possible.

Meanwhile at the military HQ….

"I know! Scar got away! I'm working on it! I said no anchovies!" Roy Mustang was busy answering the phone over and over. "This is so frustrating! Can't we just catch this guy already so I can go home earlier for once!"

Riza Hawkeye walked in to report to the colonel. "Sir, the Elrics are here to see you."

"Let them in…"

The two brothers walked into the office. The elder brother had blond hair tied back in a braid and wore a long red coat. The younger was in a large suit of armor.

"You're late… what happened?" The colonel asked.

"Tch, we tried to cut through a city near here to get back sooner, but they didn't let us through 'cause I'm a state alchemist! Turns out that whole city isn't controlled by the state…" The elder bother answered.

"Really? How far away is this city that 'isn't controlled by the state'?"

"About two or three miles from here, the city is called Exire, and they say that it's controlled by their six rulers." The younger said.

"Hnnn… well, never mind that for now… what did you find out today, Edward?"

"Nothing! The city we went to was destroyed… even the ruins are just pebbles. I swear how come everywhere you send us is either gone or infested with weirdos?"

"Altima is gone? How could that—"

"Sir, Lieutenants Havoc and Fury Request to see you immediately…" Hawkeye interrupted.

"Not now! I'm busy."

They burst into the room panting and wheezing, both of them with terrified looks on their faces.

" :Gasp:Wheeze: D-D-DEAD:gasp: DEAD PERSON IN THE TRASH!" Fury wheezed and pointed to Havoc who held the "dead girl".

"Yes, dead people do tend to show up when Scar is around… Funny how that works… Now get out!"

"WELL WHAT THE HELL DO WE DO WITH HER!"

Ed looked at the girl and noticed the oroboros tattoo on her stomach. "! Uhh… we'll take care of it right, Al?"

"Huh? W-Wha—"

Ed motioned for Al to take the girl and nodded his head.

"Uhhh… ya we'll take care of it right away!" He took her from Havoc and the brothers left the room and headed for their room.

"Wait! Uuurrgghhh…. Forget it…" Roy slumped back into his chair and pulled out a map from his top desk drawer.

"Sir? May I ask what it is you're looking for?" Hawkeye asked. The other two lieutenants had left a little while after Ed and Al did.

"Exire… it's not on here… I wonder…"

Meanwhile at Dante's place…..

"WHY IS IT MY FAULT!" Envy yelled as he dodged several books being thrown at him.

"Because I told you that you would be held responsible for anything that happens because of her!" Dante said, glaring at him with her usual irritated look.

"What could SHE do! You said yourself that she's useless!"

"Exactly! That bubbled brained ditz will probably end up telling someone from the military all about us! Then…"

"We're screwed… Way to go Envy." Greed smirked at him from across the room.

Envy picked up one of the books at was ready to chuck it at Greed's head, but Lust stopped him.

"Envy, the best thing to do now is to go find her and bring her back." She said.

"FINE!" He walked off muttering to himself as he went.

Meanwhile back at the military HQ….

Vanity slowly opened her eyes and sat up. She looked around the room. It was a small dorm room with a couch opposite a table and another bed on the other side of the room. "Where am I?" she said to herself.

"Your in my room and in my bed… but don't worry I don't mind." said a sweet and polite voice that seemed to come from nowhere.

"Huh? W-Who's there?" She looked around the room, but there was no one around, save a suit of armor in the corner.

"I'm right here!" The suit of armor moved and waved to Vanity.

"Eh…? Why are you in there? Never mind that… why am I here? Who are you?"

"Oh! I'm Alphonse Elric! You can call me Al!"

"And I'm Edward Elric." Another voice from the doorway rang. "You should be thanking me for bringing you here!"

"W-What? Why!"

"Well you don't want all of the military to know that you're a homunculus do you?"

"You know that I'm…"

He walked to the bed and looked her over. "I've never seen you before... you're awfully scrawny… so what you're name?"

"Scrawny…? Like you should talk short stuff!" she giggled.

"'Short stuff'! WHO YOU CALLIN' A LITTLE MIDGET THAT BELONGS IN THE CIRCUS FOR WORLD'S SHORTEST MAN!" he flailed around as his brother held him back.

"Ahaha! I'm Vanity and I didn't say all that…"

"Vanity? Well I'm sorry for my brother's actions…" Al let his brother down slowly.

"Ahem! Well, Vanity, for what reason did they send you here?" Ed said while fixing his coat.

"Send me here? Well actually I just slipped off the roof and I guess that's where the military people found me… Awww I really am useless huh?"

"Huh? Well you are part of the seven deadly sins right?"

"No… I'm sort of the prototype for them and I lied dormant for so long… but I'm not the real Vanity…" She proceeded to tell them that she didn't exactly know who she was.

"How awful! We'll be sure to try and help you however we can, right brother?" Al turned to his brother.

"So you're just some soul who lost their memories and is trapped in a homunculus's body and is, needless to say, a ditz?"

"Brother!"

"No it's ok… He's right after all."

"Alright! Come on, Al; let's go get somethin' to eat!"

"Huh? But what about—"

"Don't worry she's not going anywhere!" Edward dragged his brother to the hallway and once they where a safe distance away he spoke up. "Al, that girl isn't one of them… but she's still around. Shouldn't she have been fed to a philosopher's stone?"

"I guess her creator didn't want to do that…"

"But that must mean… she was created by someone other than the other sin's creator…"

"Yeah… but who?"

It began to rain out side while Vanity was asleep. Now the remnants of the rain drizzled outside and dripped off the roof top and down the window of the Elrics' room. Vanity sat by the window and with her finger followed a few rain drops down the glass.

"I bet they've noticed I'm gone… I wonder what Envy will say when he finds out that I fell off the roof…" She imagined Envy's angry face and him yelling at her for being "A stupid, klutzy wench!" … She smiled to herself and giggled at these thoughts: it made her feel better to think of him.

"**_In our days we've mourned insignias  
The passing glance unstamped  
We've rendered ourselves powerless, unfortunate  
The useless mend the fixed"_**

She sang softly to herself…

"_**And on every hour it detonates  
My courage goes unlooked  
The ride home through perilous  
The land it goes, I will…**_

**_You've been a bad child  
You broke all the rules  
You've been a bad child  
You'll get yours paid in full…"_**

Ed and Al walked in to see Vanity sitting by the window singing her melancholic song.

"**_I know that we'll never die  
I know that we'll never die  
You look down, but far from out—"_**

She turned around to see them. "Oh! You're back already? I was just—"

"**_And the paper reads, "You lose."  
I know that we'll never kill…" _**

Al finished.

Ed looked at his brother in surprise and Vanity did the same.

"Y-You know it!"

……………………………………………………..

_CH 5 END!_

_Whew! CH5 was a doozy neh? It's probably my longest so far... so sorry for any grammar or spelling errors! I don't have time to check the whole thing!_

_TIME FOR STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW FOR CH5!_

_1 Tohmar and the other four characters in the beginning are all OC's that come in later… may be in the next chapter, along with everyone's favorite creepy blonde boy!_

_2 Sorry for any OOC-ness… I honestly don't mean to…_

_3 Exire is the name of a city in the RPG Golden Sun… I think_

_That's all!_

_CH 6 IS COMING SOON! PLEASE REVIEW! (no flames oi…)_

**__**


	6. Imagine

_Disclaimer: I do not own FMA just the character Vanity _

Chapter6: Imagine

"**_And the paper reads, "You lose."  
I know that we'll never kill…" _**

Al finished.

Ed looked at his brother in surprise and Vanity did the same.

"Y-You know it!" She said.

"Well, yes. It's a poem right? It was written by an alchemist by the name of Ricardo Faltama. Our father had one of his books, but no one really understood his writings because he wrote in stories and poems." Al answered.

"Ricardo Faltama….?" She knew that it sounded familiar to her, but she didn't know where she heard it before.

"That old book…?" Ed commented.

"Well, I remember it because I used to read the stories and poems a lot. I really liked his works."

"I think I remember a little about that guy… he lived for over five hundred years because he created an elixir of life… no one really knows why he stopped taking it and died though…"

"Right, but they say he wrote another poem before his death… but it was lost forever. The last message that he wrote before that was 'My dearest Apollo I'll be burning here on Star 4…'"

"Apollo…? That sounds familiar… I just don't know why." Vanity said looking down at the floor.

"He created homunculi… two I think, and one was the prototype for the seven sins… in his notes he sounded like he regretted creating something so 'evil.'"

"Maybe that was…!" Ed looked from his brother to Vanity.

"No, it can't… Faltama's homunculus was awake and alive… Vanity said that she never woke up."

"Well, now I'm back to square one… but at least I know who wrote that song now. Who knows, it might be a very important clue later."

Lt. Hawkeye entered the room and addressed the Elrics. " Excuse me, but the Colonel wishes to see you both in his office as soon as possible…"

"AAAARRRGGGGHHHH! Haven't we had enough of him for one day?" Ed groaned.

"Brother! We'll be there soon, Lt. Hawkeye!"

Hawkeye nodded and left the room.

"Sorry, Vanity, looks like we have to leave again…" Ed groaned.

"That's ok." She said. She turned to the window and saw that the light rain had stopped and the sun was out again. "I think I'll go on the roof, ok?" She said smiling and headed out the door.

Ed and Al left and headed towards Roy's office. Once inside, they noticed him looking at a map carefully.

"What is it now, Mustang?" Ed muttered.

"That city the two of you told me about… Exire, right?"

"Well, yes, what of it?"

"It doesn't exist… I want you two to go there and find out about this place."

"Ummm, were you listening to us before? They wont let us in because I'm a state alchemist!"

Roy held out his hand. "Then give me your watch…"

"ARE YOU INSANE! NO!"

Hawkeye snuck up behind him and stole the pocket watch from Ed. She held it within reaching distance of the short alchemist.

"HEY! GIVE THAT BACK!" He yelled while jumping for the watch.

"Well, if only you where a little taller, Full metal, you might have got it back." Roy snickered as he took the watch from Riza.

"I'M NOT SHORT DAMMIT!" Al held his brother back from attacking the Colonel.

"Go to Exire! Then I'll give it back when you return."

"FINE! Dammit…" Ed muttered as he stormed out of the room followed by a worried Alphonse calling out "Brother!"

Meanwhile in the streets near the military HQ….

"ARRRRGGGHHH WHERE THE HELL IS SHE!" Envy groaned as he kicked a nearby trash can. He jumped up on a rooftop near the military HQ and sat down. "I've looked everywhere… Dante's gonna kill me for sure now!" He muttered.

At the same time on the roof of the military HQ…

"ACHOO!" Vanity looked around because she thought she heard Envy's voice followed by the banging of a trash can. "Must be just some cats… _Sigh"_ She leaned against a rusty rail and thought to herself. "_Ricardo Faltama… Apollo… I wonder what else those brothers know about all this… I wonder what Envy'd say?_"

Just then the rail broke causing Vanity to fall once again. "NNNOOOOOOOO NOT AGAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNN!"

Envy still sat on the rooftop, but his silence was disturbed by the sound of a girl's screams. He stood up and turned around then….

BAM!

Vanity fell on top of Envy causing him to fall backwards and the two fell on the overhang of an abandoned fruit stand. The overhang ripped and they finally landed in the empty fruit stand. (all during this was random "arrgghhs" and "aaaaahhhhhh!s" ect.)

"Oww… What happened?" Vanity groaned still not noticing who she crash-landed into.

"Get… OFF!" Envy muttered as he pushed Vanity off of him.

"OWW!" She looked up at Envy and her face lit up. "ENVY!"

Envy just twitched and looked at her like she was insane. "Where the hell were you ALL DAY! Do you have ANY IDEA how much TROUBLE I'M IN!"

"Well I fell off the—" She knew that he'd just yell even more so she decided not to tell him that part… "—the path! Yeah and I wanted to investigate further and I was captured by the military and this little blond midget and giant trash can and they—"

"FULLMETAL PIP-SQUEEK!"

"Yeah I guess so… But that's not the point! They told me that—"

"They told you what! You didn't tell them about the others right or about our hideout!"

"No, but listen! The big one knew about that song I told you about!"

Envy looked at her curiously.

"He told me that an alchemist by the name of Ricardo Faltama wrote it along with a book of other poems. Those poems are his notes, but no one understands them because he wrote in poems and stuff…"

"'And stuff?'"

"Well that's all they told me… Oh! And that he died a while ago because he didn't take the elixir of life but not one knows why… Envy, I have to go ask them more so I can—"

"NO! You're not going back there! Forget that you even met them! Let's go!" He said grabbing her hand and leading her away.

"W-Wait, Envy! What if they're the only ones who know about all this? I have to go ask them! Please, Envy!"

He paused from dragging her away, "Well now you know about this Faltama guy right? Maybe Dante or the library knows more. So you DON'T have to see them again."

"The library… that's it! Envy, can I go look there?"

"Why are you so eager to find out about all this anyways? Didn't the other Vanity say that once you did find out that you'd have to go away forever?"

"Well I know but… the funny thing is the other Vanity has stopped appearing in my dreams… But why do you care if I have to go away forever or not?"

"Nothing! I don't care I just thought you would!" He crossed his arms and looked away from her.

"… whatever. Now the library's this way right?" She started off towards the library.

She came up to the library and went through the back door into the building. Envy had followed her to make sure she didn't go find the Elrics again.

Meanwhile, outside of the city Exire….

"So you say you just need to pass though the city to get to the next city where your clients are?" The guard at the city's gate said.

"Yes, for the thirty-fourth time!" Ed growled.

"So please do hurry, sir! Our clients said that this was an emergency!" Al said.

"Well, I must say, you two are the most unorthodox pair of mercenaries I've seen…"

Ed was about to explode in anger when a voice came from a small speaker next to the guard.

"Let them in, Lok."

"Oh, yes m' lady!" He tapped at a small panel of buttons and the giant doors to the city slowly opened.

"Wow! This place is huge!" Al exclaimed. The brothers looked around the city. It was filled with very large buildings that shone in the sunlight. The streets were filled with people trading, bartering, and talking. All in all, the city was a very beautiful place like none they'd ever seen.

"How could a place like this not exist on the map? More importantly, how could this place be here with out the threats of the military taking over?" Ed mentioned.

Edward wasn't looking where he was going and he ran into someone.

"ARGH! WHY DON'T YOU LOOK WHERE YOU'RE—" He looked up to see that the man he ran into was… Maes Hughes!

"Lt. Colonel!" Al said.

"Excuse me? I'm sorry I think you have me confused with someone else. Sorry for running into you." The other Hughes got up and walked away leaving the two brothers dumbfounded.

"What's going on here?"

Meanwhile, in a building over looking Exire…

"Tohmar, why'd you let those boys in here? They're state alchemists" Said a woman with long black and wavy hair and the marking of what looked like a slanted _F_.

"The master will be so pleased with me now… those boys smell of homunculi… although they are human… meaning…" Tohmar looked towards the other woman. Her marking was a large stripe from the bottom of her left eye to the end of her face

"They might know of… her you mean?"

"They know too much already… let's get what we need from them then kill them!" growled a large hooded man.

"Patience, my brother… lady Tohmar, what do ya' say?" piped a smaller hooded boy.

"Shota, Shoro, go and find out what you can… then do what you must." Tohmar said.

The two hooded figures nodded and went.

"Shouldn't we ask the master if this is what he wants to be done?" The other woman said.

"No, the master isn't in any condition to be up. We mustn't trouble him with such trivial things, Xiu." Tohmar looked from Xiu to the streets below them.

Back with the Elrics in the streets of Exire….

"What the hell…!" All day the two brothers had been running into people that where supposed to be dead.

"Brother, what does this mean?"

"They're all homunculi… this is a city full of homunculi, Al."

"But who could've created all these homunculi?"

"It's impossible! There's not alchemist alive that could create all these homunculi!"

"Awww, don't get 'yer bowls in an uproar, little guy. We all have different creators." The smaller of the two hooded brothers stepped out from an alley way to greet the Elrics.

"Who are you, and what's with this place!" Ed demanded.

"I am Shota, one of the six rulers of Exire… and this is my brother Shoro." He pointed to a very large man in a hooded cloak like his brother's standing behind the Elrics.

Drool dripped out from his mouth as he grinned and bore his fangs to the Elrics. "Let's kill them brother!"

"Calm down, Shoro. We must first learn what they know about Vanity."

"W-What are you people! You're no run-off-the-mill homunculi…" Ed said.

"What do you want with Vanity!" Al demanded.

"Is it always questions with you two or what? Well, to answer the tin man, it's not what we want it's what our master wants. So you two are going to be good little boys and tell us where she is." Shota said.

"We don't know! She was gone from our room before we left…" Ed lied. Although it was true, but they just assumed that she was still on the rooftop before they left.

"He lies brother… let's kill them!" Shoro growled.

"I know, Shoro… Well, to answer the little man's question… we are homunculi fused with chimeras." He let down his hood and took off his cloak to reveal his wolf-like ears and a tail. On his face was the marking of an upside-down triangle.

Shoro did the same, but he was far less human than his brother and had a right-side up triangle on his face. He was like a large werewolf with the structure of a man but the appearance of a wolf-like creature. He snarled then charged at Alphonse.

"AL LOOK OU—"

Before Ed could finish, Shota charged at him and stabbed into his back with his claws.

"Come then, Edward. Let our younger brothers fight while I kill you…" He said ripping his claws out from Ed's back.

"ARRRGGGHHH!" Ed fell to his knees and blood dripped from his wounds. He transmuted his auto-mail arm into a blade then got up and charged at Shota.

Meanwhile back in the tower over looking Exire.

"Those humans are no match for those two together… even if they are our weakest." Xiu said.

"You underestimate those Elrics… Together the chimera brothers are virtually invincible because one makes up for the other's weakness, but against two opponents they might not fair was well…" Tohmar replied.

"Then you're using those two to test the Elrics' strength?"

"Not exactly…" Spoke a third voice from the shadows. The boy with the blonde hair and the strange marking on his face walked out.

"Master…" The two female homunculi bowed at the sight of their master.

"I want those two to chase the humans out of the city… alive." He said.

"But, master—" Tohmar began.

"We can then follow them to her… we already have their energy prints. Right, Ruiisu?" He turned to see another man with a bandana over his eyes and the marking of a stripe running through where his right eye would be under the cloth.

"Yes, master, I can track them now. They are fleeing to the south-eastern gate, m' lord." Said the one called Ruiisu.

"Excellent… tell them to chase the humans out alive." And with that, the boy turned to leave.

"Yes, Master Apollo…" They all replied.

Meanwhile back in Central with Envy and Vanity.

"Here it is!" Vanity picked up a dusty old book called _On the Backend of Forever_ by Ricardo Faltama.

"This is an alchemy book?" Envy asked while holding a small flashlight to the old book. "Looks more like a novel or a journal."

"Well it sort of is. They said that it was more like his journal…" She started to flip through the pages until one fell out. She picked it up and read it aloud.

"**_My dearest Apollo,_**

**_I know that you don't understand why this must be done. The girl with the sign of the Oroboros on her stomach is a creation of evil, a sinful creature that will only corrupt you more. I told you that the pursuit of power would corrupt you, my dear Apollo; please do not be angry at me. The six figures enter; they've come to destroy the world. They've called together a storm almost every night, to destroy the humans that persecute them. Beware the markings of power; they will only hurt you, my son."_**

"What's that suppose to mean?" Envy asked.

"Apollo… Why is that so familiar…"

"Well let's go. Just take the book with you. I'm sure they won't miss it." Envy turned to leave.

Vanity nodded and followed him, taking the book with her.

……………………………………

_CH6 END!_

_Whew! Sorry it took me so long to update! This chapter was long enough and my internet went down for a week a after a storm! _

_TIME FOR STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW FOR CH6!_

_The letter from Ricardo Faltama isn't a song or whatever._

_2) the six rulers of Exire are, as you all probably have guessed, the dark figures from the dream in the last chapter._

_3) Exire is a city from tales of symphonia. I forgot it's been a while since I played that game but I knew the name was familiar!_

_That's all I can think of for now! There's probably more but I don't have time! And once again sorry for any OOC-ness or w/e. I don't have time to check the whole thing!_


	7. The Chimera Brothers

_I do not own FMA only the characters Vanity, Tohmar, Apollo, Shota, ect._

_I warn you all now, this chapter contains character death._

Chapter 7: The Chimera Brothers

"AAAARRRGGGHHH!" Edward smashed into a building after being punched by Shota, the elder of the Chimera brothers.

"Ahahah! Too bad, little man, looks like you can't keep up with me… not that anyone can!"

Ed got up and wiped a little blood from his mouth. He grinned and laughed a little at the half chimera half homunculus boy in front of him.

"What's so funny, runt?"

"Well, you are fast I'll give you that… but your punches are weak. I only fell because you're fast enough to get so many in within a few minutes…"

"So you've found me out! It's not like you're ever gonna land a decent hit on me anyways."

"Well, your brother isn't fairing so well…" Ed pointed to the fight behind Shota. Al was doing a good job at keeping Shoro at a distance and landing punches and kicks once and a while. Shoro had powerful strikes but he was very slow. Al finally hit the chimera in the stomach causing him to double over.

"SHO--!" Before he could finish, Ed came from behind and kicked Shota's legs out from under him causing him to fall to the ground.

"So that's your weaknesses… one of you is fast but has light punches while the other is slow with powerful strikes…"

"B-Bastard…!" Shota jumped to his feet and punched at Ed once again. "I may have 'light' punches but at least I'm fast enough so you can't hit me while I attack you!"

Shoro got up and charged at Al once again. Al dodged him and went to strike, but the chimera turned and hit Al in the stomach, flinging him into a nearby building.

"What the…?" Al looked down to see where Shoro had hit. There was a huge dent that almost broke into the armor.

The great chimera stood in front of Al. His teeth dripping and foaming, and he bore his claws to his victim, ready to strike.

"BROTHER!" Al cried out.

Ed turned to see his brother about to be mauled by the over sized beast.

"GOT YOU!" Shota seized the moment to try and dig his claws into Ed's back again, but this time finishing him off.

"_Stop, Shota… the master has other plans involving these two… alive."_ The homunculus called Ruiisu had contacted the elder chimera brother through telepathy.

"_Ruiisu! Stay out of this you stupid mage!"_

"_Shota, this is what the master wants… chase them out of the city and make sure they get out alive… understand?" _And with that he was gone.

Shota stopped a few inches away from stabbing at Edward again. "Shoro! Plan B now!"

Shoro snorted and kicked Alphonse towards the south-eastern gate. Shota did the same with Edward.

"Better run, boys, before we really kill you this time!" Shoro snarled.

They both advanced towards the Elrics, ready to kill them at any moment.

As much as Ed hated backing out from a fight, he ran towards the gate with his brother and they fled back to Central.

Meanwhile at the sin's hideout….

"Dante! M-May I speak with you really quick?" Vanity clenched at her pants, a little nervous of asking Dante for anything.

Dante just looked at her then went back to reading the book she was looking through before Vanity interrupted her.

"…I-I won't have to bother you… anymore pretty soon… I-I made a deal with my other self to disappear when I found out about who I really am so… And I found out a lot just recently so…"

"How do you know about Ricardo Faltama's poem?" She said still not looking up from her book.

"The other Vanity told it to me… but now I know that Faltama might be my creator… except that my other self said that they never woke up, but Faltama's homunculus did."

"I see…"

"Did you know him, Dante?"

"Not really. All I know is that he's a crack pot and he's stupid for choosing the path that he did."

"…Who is 'Apollo'? The name is familiar, but I don't know where I've heard it before."

"Faltama's 'son' or better known as his first homunculus, but no one knows what happened to him."

"Oh… Well, thanks for telling me that much…" She bowed to her and went on her way.

When she returned to her room she lay down for a while and drifted off to sleep.

She was in a dark place, the same place where she had met the other Vanity.

"This must be another dream… but where is…" She looked around but there was no one; nothing but the darkness around her. She heard footsteps and turned around to see who was coming.

She expected to see the other Vanity, but instead stood the boy she ran into that day when her other self stopped appearing, the day when she learned about the song.

"W-Who are you? What happened to the other me?" She asked.

He only smiled at her then answered, "I can't tell you who I am yet… but as for the other you… she's gone. I destroyed her that day when I ran into you."

"What?"

"She wasn't really you. You are you. She was only the collection of memories from after you where locked away, and you are who you are now. Do you understand?"

"Not really… Are you saying that my memories where erased or restarted?"

"You'll see in time… Those humans may know…" The boy turned around and disappeared into the darkness.

"Hey wait!" Vanity woke up and sat in her bed for a little while. She then knew what she had to do; as irrational as it sounded and as much as Envy would yell at her for it…

Meanwhile at the military HQ….

"A tourist resort?" Roy sat behind his desk and looked at the Elrics with a strange look. From their report, the city of Exire was to be a tourist vacation spot.

"Yeah, and it's not on the map 'cause it's not built yet." Al said.

"Yup, so you sent us on another wild goose chase, Mustang!" Ed snatched his watch back from the Colonel and the brothers left his office, heading for their room.

"Brother, why did we have to lie about Exire?"

"'Cause that bastard doesn't need to know about those freakish chimera brothers or the rest of those homunculi…"

The brothers reached to outside of their room as were about to go in when they heard a crash from inside. They opened the door to see Vanity had jumped through the window and crash landed into the night stand.

"Ugghhh I'm so klutzy… AH!" She looked up at them surprised at first then grinned a little embarrassed at the thought that they just saw her super klutziness in action.

"V-Vanity… you know there is stairs from the roof to this floor; or where you locked out?" Ed said trying not to laugh.

"Don't laugh! I could get yelled at for being here again!"

"Again?" Al asked, closing the door behind him.

"Yeah, I fell off the roof last time and Envy found me… and yelled at me… He told me not to come back here, but I had to 'cause you two seem to know a lot about my creator!"

"Envy huh? So he tortures you too?" Ed stated bluntly.

"Well, he doesn't really… I mean of course he's… well he's not all that… bad… I guess. But he can be nice too like the time he… no, well one day he… uhhh…" She sat there thinking while twiddling her thumbs.

"Vanity, do you like Envy?" Al asked a little sarcastically.

"No! I mean… well he's a jerk at times but… arrggghhh…"

"Don't hurt yourself now." Ed snickered.

Just then there was a knock at the door. It was Riza again, but this time she was holding a letter in her hand and had a grave look on her face.

"Here, Full metal, this is from the Rockbells… it says it's urgent." She handed him the letter, saluted, and then left the room closing the door behind her.

"The 'Rockbells'?" Vanity asked.

"Winry Rockbell. She's our old childhood friend. I wonder what's wrong." Al explained.

Ed read the letter to himself with a horrified look in his face. "Al, something's wrong! Pinako said that Winry really needs to see us soon. 'Before it's too late' it says."

"Then we better hurry! Vanity, I'm sorry but we have to leave again…"

"I'll go with you then! I mean if you don't mind…"

"Well…" Al looked at his brother who put the letter down on the night stand.

"I don't see why not. Let's go we better hurry…" Ed replied while leaving the room.

The whole train ride over to Reisenbool, Ed and Al seemed very concerned with what ever happened to Winry.

"She must be very important to you…" Vanity finally said.

They both looked at her a little surprised and Ed was blushing a little.

"I'm sorry was that rude…?"

"N-No, not at all!" Al said.

"Really? Well what's that like?"

"What's what like?"

"Having some one who's that special to you, I don't really understand what that's like."

"Vanity, you don't have those emotions?" Ed asked.

She gave them both a blank stare, and before she could answer the train stopped at Reisenbool.

"Ed, we can talk later. Right now we have to see what's wrong with Winry." Al said.

They arrived at the Rockbells' house and Ed knocked on the door. An elderly woman opened the door and told them to come in.

"Auntie Pinako, is everything alright with Winry?" Al said.

"Yeah, what happened?" Ed added.

"Well…" She gave them a grave look then looked at the ground.

"What happened…?" Ed said in a worried tone.

"Huh?" Al and Vanity spotted at cake on the table in the other room.

"Now I get it…" Al said to himself so his brother couldn't hear.

"TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED TO WINRY!" Ed yelled.

"IDIOT!" Came a woman's voice from the stairway then a wrench flew at Ed's head.

"AAAAGGGHHHHH! W-Winry?" Ed looked at his friend with a confused stare.

"I CAN'T BELIVE YOU ALMOST FORGOT, ED!" Winry yelled crossing her arms across her chest.

"F-Forgot…?"

Al tapped on his brother's shoulder and pointed to the cake in the next room. The cake read, "Happy Birthday, Winry!"

"Forgot? I didn't forget! I really thought something happened to you! See I brought you flowers!" He transmuted some flowers behind his back from a dirty and crumpled up napkin.

"Yeah right… Al remembered, right?" She took the flowers from Ed and turned to Al. He nodded and she smiled at him. She then noticed Vanity standing behind Al.

"Who's your friend, boys?" Pinako asked.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I'm Vanity! I'm working with the Elrics on military business for a little while; nice to meet you both!" She bowed to them and smiled.

"You're part of the military? Wow, but you look younger than me!" Winry said.

"She's a witness to a murder and we're supposed to protect her from the guys who did the crime from killing her!" Ed blurted out.

"Isn't that the plot to some movie?" Al whispered to his brother.

"Just go along with it!"

"Well, you're welcome here, Vanity. Now if any one wants some cake you better come eat it before tomorrow morning!" Pinako said while walking towards the kitchen.

After the cake was eaten, everyone sat and talked together. But Vanity got up and walked outside for a while. She sat on a fence and looked at the stars.

"Where'd Vanity go?" Al asked.

"She said she wanted to go for a short walk. I'm sure she'll be fine." Ed replied.

Just then there was a knock at the door. Pinako got up to answer it and behind the door was a blonde haired boy with crimson eyes , pale skin, and a strange marking of a triangle with a circle over it on his face. He looked like he was hurt. He was wheezing and coughing up blood.

"P-Please… I…" He clenched at his chest in pain like it hurt him to speak.

"Oh My…" Pinako said.

Ed helped the boy into the house and laid him on the couch. "What happened to you?" he asked.

He doubled over in pain, holding on to his stomach. "IT HURTS! ARRGGGHHH MAKE IT STOP! IT'S BURNING ME!" He screamed.

"What's wrong? Tell us what's wrong and maybe we can help!" Winry said kneeling over to him.

Ed looked at the boys arm. His sleeve had been pulled down a little revealing some strange markings.

"What the…?" He said to himself.

"Y-You want to… help me?" The boy said, coughing up a little more blood.

"Yes, now tell us what's wrong!" Winry leaned in closer to him so he didn't need to talk too loud.

"Winry get away from him…!" Ed warned.

"Huh?" Winry looked up at Ed, but his warning was too late. The boy grabbed onto Winry's shirt and pulled her closer to him. He sat up and pressed his lips to hers. Her eyes widened and she struggled to get away. He let go of her and she fell lifeless onto the floor. Ed and Al looked on, horrified at what had just happened. The boy didn't make eye contact with them either.

"W-Winry…? Wake up ok." Ed stuttered.

Pinako and Al just stood there and watched. They couldn't believe that Winry was dead.

Ed knelt down to her and shook her to wake her up, but she didn't move. A small drop of blood ran from the corner of her mouth to her chin. Ed looked from her to the boy on the couch.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?"

"I-I couldn't kill her… she's still alive."

"WHAT DID YOU DO YOU BASTARD?" Ed fumed on the edge of killing the strange boy.

"Well, I think she's alive. I'm sorry… I never meant to ever have to take life from humans for this…" he said looking down at his arm.

"Those markings? What are they?"

"They're all over me. They give me power but they drain my life. I've survived by taking life from small animals and things but… I've grown immune to their help so I needed human life."

"THAT'S NO REASON TO KILL WINRY!" Ed punched at the boy but missed and hit the wall behind him making a rather large dent.

"Brother, Winry isn't…. is she?"

"Yeah, Al, this bastard killed her to save himself… WHO THE HELL ARE YOU THEN, HUH?"

"Apollo Faltama…" Ed gave him a shocked look and was frozen where he stood. Apollo laughed a little then got up from the couch.

"You're a homunculus… the ruler of Exire, right?" Al asked.

"Ah, so you've heard of me? That's right you're those human boys from the other day… I told my accomplice to track you down for me so I could find Vanity again…"

"What is it that you want with her any way?" Ed demanded.

"My 'father' created her… then he erased all her memories of me… That bastard, I can never forgive him for that… So you will tell me where she is or we can destroy this house as well…"

"'We'?" they both said.

Just then, Ed felt a sharp pain in his back and saw blood drip onto the floor beneath him.

"Hello, runt, time for round two!" The familiar voice of Shota came from behind him followed by the growling of Shoro.

Meanwhile outside on the fence…

Vanity sat looking at the stars, wondering what Envy'd say about her running off like that.

"You little bitch… I can't believe you did the exact opposite of what I told you to do!" She could almost hear him now… actually she did. She turned around and saw Envy glaring at her.

"What! H-How'd you….?"

"Well, you did leave a note in your room that said 'I'm sorry, Envy, but I have to ask those humans about Faltama. They're my only lead. I'll be back soon so don't be angry!' well guess what!"

"Wait I can explain! I'm sorry! Don't—"

"Excuse me sir, but…" A man wearing a bandana over his eyes with the marking of a stripe through where his right eye would be approached Envy.

"What?"

"May I ask that you… hand the girl over to me immediately? The master wishes to see her."

"You're crazy. Now get lost!"

"Very well then, I see that it must be done…" he said to himself.

Envy turned to yell at Vanity some more, but while his back was turned; the man took out a chain with a blade on one end.

"E-Envy…!"

……………………………………………………….

_CH7 END!_

_Sorry I have to end it now… this chapter is getting too long! _

_TIME FOR STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW!_

_1. Before any one thinks "what the hell kind of homunculus is Ruiisu?" Let me just say I won't tell you but you'll find out later (like next chapter later)_

_2. That's really all I can think of… but I needed a #2 point so la di da di da!_

_I'm hoping to put up links to my character sketches of each character but I forgot to scan them today so… maybe next time._

_PLEASE REVIEW AND SEE YOU NEXT CHAPTER!_


	8. Sing for Absolution

_I do not own FMA just the characters Vanity, Apollo, Tohmar, Shota, Shoro, Xiu, and Ruiisu._

Chapter 8: Sing for Absolution.

"…ENVY!" Vanity screamed as Ruiisu swung down with his blade.

Luckily, Envy moved out of the way in time. He went to kick the mysterious homunculus but he disappeared.

"W-Who or what was that? ...Envy?" Vanity walked over to Envy and he just looked paralyzed. "Envy, what's—"

Blood dripped down his face and arms. He fell over in shock, bleeding all over the ground.

"ENVY! ENVY, WHAT HAPPENED? PLEASE DON'T DIE, ENVY!" Vanity panicked. She knelt down to him and shook him to wake him up. He still lay there, covered in blood. She covered her eyes and wept in her palms.

She felt someone hit her over the head, hard. "Owww!" she said. She looked up to see Envy, with no injuries or cuts. He wasn't covered in blood anymore either.

"Idiot! You let him get away!" He snarled.

"Huh? B-B-B-But you were dead! What about all that blood?"

"Feh, that guy was an illusionist… I bet that wasn't really him. Well now that I know better, I won't fall for that again!"

Before she could respond they both heard an explosion from the direction of the Rockbell's place.

Meanwhile at the Rockbell's.

Shota hit Edward, sending him through the door, breaking it down as well.

"Round two, Pip-squeak, you ready?" he snickered.

Ed slowly got himself to his feet. He didn't care about fighting Shota, nor did he care about Shoro, whom he could see from the corner of his eye. He wanted to kill Apollo. He wanted to kill him for killing Winry.

"Auntie Pinako, let's get you away from here!" Al said as he picked up Winry's lifeless body from the floor. He and Pinako ran to the top of a nearby hill and he lay Winry down. "I have to help my brother! Please stay here; we don't want you to be hurt too…"

Alphonse ran back to help Ed against the chimera brothers.

"Let's kill them now, brother! I want to spill that filthy human's blood!" Shoro snarled.

"Patience, brother… Master Apollo, what are your orders?" Shota turned to their master and awaited his answer.

Before he could reply, Ruiisu appeared and bowed to his master. "Master, I've found her… We have no more use for these two any more."

Tohmar and Xiu walked out from the shadows after Ruiisu delivered his report. "Master, we will destroy these two and bring the girl to you. You may return to Exire to rest; after all it takes some time for the life you absorbed to take effect…" Tohmar said.

"Alright then, Tohmar, I put you in charge of this situation. Ruiisu come with me if you will?" Apollo turned to leave, but before he could Ed ran to him, his auto mail arm transmuted into a blade.

He held the blade to Apollo's throat; ready to kill him at any moment. "You bastard… you killed her didn't you? It's all your fault! I'll kill you for this!" Hid eyes burned with rage and hate, but Apollo just smiled and laughed a little. "WHAT'S SO DAMN FUNNY?"

"You are. You humans aren't much different that us you know. But, I find it much more enjoyable to take away those that are precious to you. How about your brother?"

Ed's eyes burned even more with a full fit of rage as he prepared himself to slit Apollo's throat. But, Apollo grabbed Ed by the neck and held him up. Edward gagged and struggled to get free but Apollo only held on more.

"BROTHER!" Al went to run and save his brother from the homunculus's grasp, but Shoro tripped him and held him back. "NO, LET ME GO! BROTHER HANG ON!"

"How touching…." Apollo said to himself as he grinned at the alchemist he was strangling.

"Master, leave this one to the others…" Ruiisu reminded.

"Yes. Yes…" He dropped Ed and turned away and left.

Edward was curled up on the ground gasping and wheezing, trying to catch his breath and take away the pain. He slowly rose to his feet and turned his glaring eyes to Shota, who was standing not to far away from him.

"So, I gotta beat you bastards to get to your boss, huh? Easy enough…"

"Easy, huh? Let's just see about—"

Ed cut Shota off by punching him across the face, hard. Sending him flying into a nearby tree and snapping it in two.

Shota got up slowly and wobbled a little. "Damn… this gonna be fun…." He said as he wiped away some blood dripping from his mouth.

"Just use the 'power' that I gave you two… you'll be fine. Right, Xiu?" Tohmar said and turned to Xiu.

Shota nodded and ran off to fight along with his brother.

"Are you sure that this is how it has to be…?" Xiu said with a sad and somewhat guilty tone to her voice.

"You know my answer now get going…" Tohmar disappeared after her reply.

"Brother, are you alright?" Al said to his older brother.

"Yeah, don't worry about these two we can take them…. Then we can get to that bastard Apollo…"

"Yeah, but… we don't know about that other girl…"

"Don't worry about her she can't be any worse than the chimera brothers…"

"Shota! Shoro! You heard Tohmar now do what has to be done…!" Xiu said.

"O' course, Xiu, but you'll be helping out too right?" Shota said with a grin.

"Yes…" And with that, Xiu waved her hand and a circle that looked like a rather complicated transmutation circle appeared beneath her feet.

"Is that… alchemy?" Al asked.

"No, she's a spell caster! I've never seen one before, but we can't let her finish the spell!"

Ed charged at Xiu to try and stop her concentration and break the magic circle, but Shota jumped in front of him and punched him in the stomach.

"… GIGA THUNDER BLADE!" A purple magic circle appeared beneath Al's feet and lighting charges surrounded his "body". A huge sword-shaped lighting bolt crashed down on him. Although he couldn't really feel pain, the strike paralyzed him for a while.

"ALPHONSE!"

Meanwhile on a nearby hill

"That came from the Rockbell's place… I hope Ed and Al are O—"

"Who cares it's not our problem…" Envy snapped.

"But…" Vanity placed her hand over her chest and clenched her fist. She winced as if something was hurting her. "I feel like there's something back there… something that I may need…"

"Something, huh? ... You don't like that little full metal squirt do you…?" Envy asked a little sarcastically.

"Well, he's nice to me. And his brother too… He helped me a lot as well… Is that what you mean?"

"No… forget it."

Vanity got up to go see what caused the explosion. Envy was ready to stop her but was a little curious himself. So he followed her to the Rockbell's home. When they arrived, they saw the two chimera brothers and Xiu the spell caster fighting against Edward and a temporarily paralyzed Alphonse.

"ED! AL!" Vanity yelled.

Ed looked up to see Vanity and Envy. "NO! VANITY, GET AWAY FROM HERE!"

"Well, well, looks like a fellow homunculus has delivered our little prize for us…" Shota said.

"Prize? Her?" Envy said looking from the three other homunculi to Vanity. "You know them?"

"N-No…En...vy…Don't…!" Al said.

"Well let's finish off these two first, brother." Shota said.

"I want to obliterate them! Let's just see how powerful Tohmar's 'gift' is!" Shoro held up a glowing orb of raw energy and turned to the Elrics, ready to use his new power on them.

"Right! Xiu, use a spell to keep our little friends still would ya?"

Xiu gave him a very sorrowful look but then nodded her head and began another magic circle.

"What's going on here? What's with the chimera boys… and that witch girl… why do you want Vanity anyways?" Envy asked. "If you're all homunculi then you won't mind answering me!"

"Our master wants to see her… Our master Apollo…" Shota answered.

"Apollo…" Vanity said to herself. She remembered Ricardo Faltama's last word in his book… "My dearest Apollo, I'll be burning here on Star 4" Did this Apollo have anything to do with Faltama's Apollo?

"… SLOW!" A white magic circle appeared beneath Ed and Al's feet. After a flash of light a circle of symbol letters surrounded their heads like halos. It made them incredibly slower; almost to the point where they couldn't move.

"No…!" Ed said as he tried and tried to move away, but the curse made him too slow to do so.

"Now I'll use this power to destroy you both!" Shoro growled as he approached to two frozen alchemists.

"NO DON'T! ED! AL! LOOK OUT! Envy we have to help them!" Vanity turned to Envy but his eyes were fixed on the spell caster Xiu. She followed his gaze and noticed the same thing. Xiu had a very sorrowful and guilty look on her face. She looked like she wanted to stop Shoro but she restrained herself.

"Interesting…" he said. "We should stay back and watch… if worst comes to worst then at least our little Ed-o problem will be fixed…"

"How could you say that…? But then again… why do I feel like it really doesn't matter…"

Envy gave her a puzzled look, but he ignored her comment and went back to watching the Elric's demise.

"Bro…ther…!" Al managed to say.

"HAHAHAHAHA! TIME'S UP HUMANS!" Shoro growled as he held the orb of power up and brought it down again to strike the Elrics.

"_**Lips are turning blue**_

_**A kiss that can't renew**_

_**I only dream of you**_

_**My beautiful…"**_

The soft song rang out in Vanity's head. Nothing made sense to her. There she stood, on top of a hill, watching the only humans that ever cared about her slowly die. But she didn't care! She didn't understand. Then something that Ed said to her before they came to Reisenbool came back to her.

"_Having some one who's that special to you, I don't really understand what that's like."_

"_Vanity, you don't have those emotions?"_

"_**Sing for absolution**_

_**I will be singing**_

_**And falling from your grace…"**_

"Apollo… who am I…?" She said. She could feel his presence smiling down on her as if he was pleased with her trying to find the answer to her vague question, but he wasn't there…

She snapped out of her trance and ran to help the Elric brothers. She ran in front of the giant chimera and created a shield of energy to block his attack. _"W-What am I doing? How'd I…?" _Before she could answer her own question, Shoro crashed down with great might powered by the orb of energy in his hand. Vanity's shield took a beating and couldn't handle the force. It collapsed and she flew backwards, unconscious.

"Vanity! Stupid wench!" Envy yelled as he ran down and knelt next to her. "Well looks like you found your power…"

"Van…ity…!" Ed shuttered still under the slow curse.

"Grrrr….! Stupid bitch! Shoro, destroy them now, my brother! Sho— !" Shota stopped and took a good look at his brother.

"ARRGGHHH! Ugh…! Bro….ther... wha…what's happening?" Shoro shuttered as the orb in his hand began to fuse with him. He screamed in pain as it slowly began to melt away his arm and the rest of him. His screams stopped and he collapsed to the ground; his body was completely mutilated and he was cold and lifeless.

Shota only looked on in horror then slowly walked up to his brother's dead body. "Shoro… You ok? Shoro….? DAMMIT! THIS IS ALL THOSE DAMN HUMAN'S FAULTS!" He glared at Ed and Al with rage in his eyes. He prepared himself to attack them but…

"NO! Shota, don't or else you will end up like your brother… Please, we must retreat… you will get your vengeance soon, Shota, but for now please…" Xiu pleaded as she created a warp magic circle to bring her and Shota back to Exire. He reluctantly nodded and followed her into the warp.

The slow spell wore off and Edward and his brother where freed.

"What was that…? Did we really…?" Al asked.

"I don't know…But…they killed Winry…" Ed muttered.

"Oh get over yourself!" Envy snapped. He was knelt down next to Vanity, who was currently knocked out from the impact of Shoro's strike.

"Envy…? Are you here to retrieve Vanity?" Al asked.

"You bastard! How would you feel if they did kidnap Vanity?" Ed replied.

"What you think I _like_ her? How amusing… Well, I'll just bring her back to where she's supposed to be and leave you poor unfortunate souls to mourn for your dear Winry." Envy said with a slight snickering tone to his voice. He would've much rather killed them right there and then, but they were already in pretty bad condition and he had a little more pride in his kills ,especially if it was them, then to take advantage of the situation. He picked Vanity up and started off, and before they knew it, he was gone.

"_**Slip into your room**_

_**A starlight in the gloom**_

_**I only dream of you**_

_**And you never knew…"**_

"Boys are you alright?" Pinako ran down from the hilltop to see the two brothers, both rather shaken up.

"Yeah but…" Al started then turned to his brother.

"She's gone isn't she? Winry's dead…" Ed muttered

"…." Pinako didn't know what to tell him. Except that… "They took her… the one with the bandana over his eyes took her body… I couldn't do anything… I'm sorry."

"They called that one Ruiisu, right…? Brother, what now?" Al said.

"We go to Exire. But first let's go to Central… We're not gonna tell Mustang or anyone else about this… We just need to go there first… I need to ask Vanity something."

"OK. Goodbye, Auntie Pinako! We promise we'll save Winry." Al bowed to her then turned to leave with his brother.

"But…!" Pinako was unable to stop them. They were gone.

"_**Sing for absolution**_

_**I will be singing**_

_**And falling from your grace…"**_

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_Chapter 8 end!_

_Loved it? Hated it? Want Apollo to die? Wanted Winry to die anyways? Want more Homunculus Hughes action? (I'll try to put him in later…)_

_Anyway…_

_TIME OR STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW FOR CH8!_

_1. "Sing for Absolution" by The Muse is the song… once again the lyrics are slightly altered but it's still their song._

_2. The spell "slow" is from the Final Fantasy games._

_3. Xiu's spells are in symbol. Sorry bout that... _

_That's all…_

_EXTRA BONUS CRAP!_

_Well I decided to make/draw up the character sheets for the characters 'cause I'm not too good at descriptions… These are the only three for this chapter:_

_Vanity: __http/ __http/ __http/ chapter I'll have Shota, Shoro, and Xiu and maybe Ruiisu done…_

_REVIEW PLEASE! No flames... Oh well like that's gonna stop you? _


	9. Dirty Little Secret

_Disclaimer: I do not own FMA I only own this story and the characters: Vanity, Apollo, Tohmar, ect._

Chapter 9: Dirty Little Secret

The rain started to fall lightly on Edward Elric's face as he sat at the rain station, waiting for his brother to return with the tickets for the train to Exire. He knew that he had to go to Exire to find Apollo, the homunculus that killed his dear friend, Winry.

"Brother…" Al said to his brother. "There are no trains to Exire… the lady said she's never heard of it."

"Figures…" Edward replied.

"Well, I got us tickets to Central instead since Exire is close to it…"

A long awkward silence followed Al's last comment. It dragged on into the train ride. Al looked at his brother's sad yet angry expression in his eyes. Al, too, was horrified by Winry's death, but he was also interested in the younger chimera brother's, Shoro's, death.

"Brother… didn't it seem odd that Xiu stopped Shota from killing us with that thing Tohmar gave them? I mean, wouldn't she want him to avenge his brother?" Al asked.

"…." Edward didn't respond.

Al sighed and looked out the window at the moving scenery. The rest of the train ride was in silence.

Meanwhile in Exire…

Apollo sat in a large chair in the middle of a darkroom only lit by the moonlight from the large window on the west side of the room. Rain fell against the window and ran down it producing the only sounds in the room other than Apollo's heavy breaths. He clenched his chest in pain and the pain soon subsided. Tohmar entered the room from a door in front of him.

"Master… it is my sad duty to report Shoro's death…" She began.

Xiu stood next to and almost behind her, biting her thumb in nervousness.

"Those boys were not defeated either… Xiu and Shota bailed after the Elrics mutilated Shoro…" Tohmar continued.

"….How could they…? Hnn... nevermind. This just sets up for an even better plan." He replied. He looked down at his hands and sighed. "I don't think we have much more time either…"

"Master…" Tohmar went to him and knelt beside him.

"I need to see her again… Vanity…" He said as he closed his eyes and fell asleep in his chair.

Tohmar stood and walked out of the room with Xiu. Ruiisu and Shota looked up at them when they entered into the room they were in.

"So…?" Shota asked them.

"Master Apollo said not to do anything… he has another plan." Tohmar said.

"'Not to do ANYTHING?' How do you expect me not to do anything? Those filthy humans… killed my brother!" Shota replied.

Xiu looked down at her feet and crossed her arms as if her stomach was hurting her.

"Don't worry, Shota, I know exactly what it is that the master wants us to do…" Tohmar began. "We will track those boys down and kill them."

"Really…?" Shota said. Xiu looked up at Tohmar after she said this. A worried look was on her face now.

"Ruiisu, you heard me! The master wants you to track them down…" Tohmar turned to Ruiisu who just looked in her direction, gave an "Hmph…", and then got up to leave.

"Ruiisu! You heard me now—"

"I do not take orders from you, Tohmar… YOU are not master Apollo…" He said as he began to leave the room.

Tohmar clenched her fists and glared at him. She hated his attitude towards her; he never respected any one, save Apollo.

"This IS the master's wishes, fool! Or do you defy him now as well?" She said through her teeth.

"Ruiisu, why don't you help us…?" Shota asked. Xiu just looked at him, not saying anything.

"…It seems we all have our own dirty little secrets…" He looked at Xiu after his statement. Even though his eyes were covered with a bandanna, she could feel his gaze piercing through her. He then turned and left the room.

"Feh, that ingrate… Well, I suppose that we're just going to have to find them ourselves…" Tohmar started.

"I will find them!" Xiu said. "I will find them and bring them here…"

"…Alright." Tohmar said with a mistrustful expression. It wasn't that she didn't trust her; she just didn't understand why Xiu was so eager to do this job.

Xiu bowed and left the room and left the city to go find the Elrics.

Meanwhile on the outskirts of Central….

Envy had been carrying Vanity on his back for a while now. He stopped under an overhang from a building to sit down and take cover from the rain. He laid Vanity next to him and sat against the wall and watched the rain fall.

(Flashback)

"_I feel like there's something back there… something that I may need…"_

"_Something, huh? ... You don't like that little full metal squirt do you…?" _

"_Well, he's nice to me. And his brother too… He helped me a lot as well… Is that what you mean?"_

"_No… forget it."_

"She didn't understand…?" He thought

(Flashback)

"_We should stay back and watch… if worst comes to worst then at least our little Ed-o problem will be fixed…"_

"_How could you say that…? But then again… why do I feel like it really doesn't matter…"_

He looked down at Vanity as she lie there, still unconscious. "Why did she say that…? What's wrong with her?"

He looked back up at the falling rain and sighed. He closed his eyes and remembered another thing…

"_Why are you so eager to find out about all this anyways? Didn't the other Vanity say that once you did find out that you'd have to go away forever?"_

"_Well I know but… the funny thing is the other Vanity has stopped appearing in my dreams… But why do you care if I have to go away forever or not?"_

"_Nothing! I don't care I just thought you would!"_

He felt his face getting warmer and turning red. He slapped himself and shook his head. "AAAARRRGGGHHHH! WHAT THE HELL? I do NOT care if she leaves! Not ONE little bit!" he said almost screaming to himself.

He went to stand up, but felt a tug on his hair. He looked down and saw that Vanity had clenched a few strands of his hair in her hand.

"E-Envy… don't leave me... alone…" She muttered in her sleep.

He felt his face turn red again, but he shook his head again and started to pry her fingers off his hair. Once this task was accomplished he sat about 5 feet away from her and glared at her.

"…It's all her fault if Dante yells at me again… stupid wench…" He looked out and saw that the rain had died down into a drizzle. He then got up, picked Vanity up, and headed off back towards the sin's hideout.

Meanwhile at the Central Train Station…

"Brother! We should stay the night here before going to Exire." Alphonse stated.

Edward didn't respond at first until his brother added…

"Brother, please be rational!"

"Alright, Al. But we can't go to the military HQ for rest… Mustang will wonder. We're just gonna have to use an inn."

They reach an inn in the middle of Central, and checked in. Once in their room Ed laid down on his bed and stared at the ceiling fan for an hour or two until Al finally spoke up.

"Ed, I'm as sad as you are about… Winry. But we have to be strong! It's what she'd want!"

":sigh: I know, Al. I know…"

"… What do you think they did with her? Pinako said that they took her body, right?"

"…I don't know… Why'd they have to do that though? Winry had nothing to do with them. They wanted Vanity anyways…"

"Brother! You can't blame Vanity for all this!"

"I'm not."

"…Why do you think Xiu stopped Shota from killing us?"

"You asked this before… and I really don't know… but she seemed very reluctant to do anything for them."

"Shota is a chimera, Xiu is a spell caster, Shoro is dead, and Apollo is their leader… that leaves two others…"

"I think they called them 'Tohmar' and 'Ruiisu'…"

"But still… Apollo said his name was Apollo Faltama. Does that mean he's Ricardo Faltama's fist homunculi?"

"I suppose so…"

A long silence followed so that the only noise in the room was the slight creaking of the fan.

"Those markings on Apollo… they remind me of the markings on Scar…" Ed finally said.

"Huh? Oh yeah! He said that they drain his life and that's why he killed Winry; to take her life for himself. But Scar's markings don't kill him…"

"I wonder why Apollo has all those markings. All of them have one on their face but he has them all over."

Just then the window creaked open followed by a thud on the floor. Xiu had come through the window and now stood before them.

"X-Xiu!" Al said.

"What are you—" Before Ed could finish she knelt down before them.

"Please! Please, I beg of you, take my life!" she shouted. "I cannot live with myself any longer! Now I must pay for all the things that I have done! It only seems fair that you shall be the ones to take my life…"

"HUH?" they both said together as they exchanged glances from across the room.

Meanwhile at the sin's hideout…

Envy had finally made it back. It was very late now and everyone was in their rooms or asleep. He took Vanity to her room and laid her down in her bed. He looked down at her for a while then turned to leave.

"Envy!" She yelled as she sat up in her bed. "Please don't… don't leave me… Can you stay here tonight?"

He gave her a shocked look, with his eye twitching and everything. "WHAT?"

He noticed she had a very drowsy look on her face; therefore, he drew the conclusion that she was just sleep talking nonsense.

She fell back on her pillow and fell asleep again. She was, indeed, just talking in her sleep.

His eye twitched a few more times before he regained his senses. He shook his head to snap out of it then left the room closing the door behind him. He leaned up against the door and sighed.

"Feh… stupid wench…"

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_CH 9 END!_

_Once again, loved it? Hated it? Wonder wtf this chapter means? Well what ever you said… that was chapter 9! (no duh!) It almost killed me to write such a mushy chapter… oh well this is part of the romance/ action/ adventure genre._

_I apologize on the lateness of this chapter… school is killer XP. _

_I also apologize on last chapter's "links to the character sheets". They don't work. If you really wanna see them go to my profile and go to my homepage (a.k.a. my deviant art account) go to my scraps gallery and click around (if all the does work just got to rakka-chan. then go to scraps). I still haven't added any new ones… so it's just Vanity, Apollo, and Tohmar… but I'm inking Ruiisu and Xiu!_

_STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW!_

_1. The flashbacks are from previous chapters… those who paid attention know this already… so pat yourselves on the back._

_That's all_

_PLEASE REVIEW! NO REVIEW, NO CH 10! And not flames please… but that's not gonna stop you…_


	10. Homunculus 101

_Disclaimer: I do not own FMA only the characters Vanity, Apollo, ect._

Chapter 10: Homunculi 101

"Please! Please, I beg of you, take my life!" Xiu shouted. "I cannot live with myself any longer! Now I must pay for all the things that I have done! It only seems fair that you shall be the ones to take my life…"

"HUH?" the Elric brothers said together as they exchanged glances from across the room.

"W-Why would you want us to…?" Al started.

"I-It's all my fault… that Shoro…" She began. "It's all my fault that he's dead! I killed him!"

"What? What do you mean by that?" Ed gasped.

"I didn't stop him… he used that thing that Tohmar gave him and it killed him… and I knew it would kill him, but I just stood there and let it happen!"

"That's why you stopped Shota…?" Al said.

"Tohmar said it would kill them, but she claimed it was the masters will… she always says things like that, but he never says for us to do those things! She justifies her own plans by claiming it's his wishes…"

"Wait… Tohmar told you not to tell them… and she gave them the items…Seems to me like SHE killed Shoro…" Ed said.

"Xiu, does Apollo know about this?"

"No, she told him that you killed him on your own…"

"I'm not sure if Tohmar wants the best for you guys…" Ed continued.

"She doesn't! She only cares about her own plans…"

"Then why do you follow her?" Al asked.

"… she is stronger than I am…I can't rebel…That's why she hates Ruiisu. He is much stronger than she is and so is Master Apollo… but he is so naïve and his markings weaken him…"

"Why do you follow Apollo?" Ed asked sternly.

"He is kind to us. He speaks of an ideal time when humans and homunculi can live together in peace… when humans will stop there tampering with human alchemy. He saved me from a cruel fait as well. In fact he saved all of us and he promises to save all homunculi."

"Why does he want Vanity?" Al asked.

"Vanity is the sin of his father Ricardo Faltama. I don't know a lot of the details but I think he was in love with her… but her emotions are missing so she never could return the feeling. He got those markings by trying to protect her as well."

"So that's why she…" Ed said to himself.

"As for the others, Shota and Shoro are chimeras from a military lab and both escaped the horrors of their experiments. Tohmar was deserted by her creator and I don't know Ruiisu's story… he doesn't talk much." Xiu continued.

"What's your story, Xiu?" Al asked.

"My story…?"

Meanwhile at the sin's hideout…

Vanity slowly opened her door and peeked outside. No one was there. She gently closed it behind her and crept into the hallway.

"Boo!"

Vanity jumped and squeaked a little yelp. She turned around to see Dante, glaring at her as usual.

"D-Dante! Good morning!" She stuttered.

"Humph… come on follow me…" She said as she turned towards her room. Vanity nodded and followed obediently. They went into Dante's room where she took a seat in a chair next to a couch where Envy sat looking just as pissed off as usual. He glanced up at Vanity then turned to Dante.

"So you've finally considered my request, eh?" He said.

"Your request?" Vanity asked.

"My request for you to be some else's partner! I can't be running around for you ya know! So, now you'll be someone else's partner! I was thinking maybe Pride… or even better, how about Greed?"

"N-No…" Vanity didn't want to be with Greed. The few times she saw him he gave her strange looks and frightened her. If anyone, she didn't want to be with Greed.

"That's enough!" Dante began. "I've already decided what's going to happen. Vanity, it seems you've been doing your own business and you've been following those Elric boys lately… That must stop so this is what's going to happen…"

"You're going to throw me out…?"

"No, I'm not. Although these events have been quite the distraction, you've been able to not only find your powers, but find some crucial information about this 'Apollo' character. So I have no reason to kick you out." She turned her attention to Envy now. "So, Envy, this is what will happen. You are still going to be her partner, but she must do everything and anything you say without question. It's as if I'm giving her to you. Vanity, you now have no say it what you do anymore. Envy is now not only your partner but your master, if you will."

"Well, it's not exactly what I wanted… but…" He got up and walked over to Vanity. "Let's go, slave!" and shoved her out the door.

All she could do was obey. So she left the room with him.

Back at the inn with Ed and Al…

"If I tell you will you do what I asked…?" Xiu asked.

"Why? We already established that it was Tohmar who killed him not you!" Ed shouted.

"… Alright. I don't remember about who I was before I became a homunculus… but I remember my master, the son of the man who brought me back…."

Ancient city of Sri Chou 40 some years ago…

"Master Hin!" Xiu shouted to a young man about 20 with jagged black hair and warm brown eyes. He wore a cloak like that of a spells master.

"Xiu, did you get everything I asked for?" Hin said to her smiling.

"Yes, I did!" She handed him a bag of herbs and spices. "Although I did have some troubles… the man at the store looked at me strangely the whole time… so did the villagers…"

"Don't worry about them, Xiu. Come, let's go inside shall we?"

Xiu lived with Hin for a long time after his father, Xiu's creator, died from losing his heart in the human transmutation. Hin was a master spell caster and Xiu studied the art under him. Alchemy was forbidden in Sri Chou, just as it was in Ishbal. Spell casters were the closest thing to alchemists there. The people in Sri Chou, remembered Xiu as a human. They remembered that she died. But now they see her again, alive, living on the outskirts of town with Hin.

The people remember that Hin's father had practiced alchemy, and they assumed that Hin had done the same. They believe that Hin had brought Xiu back using alchemy, because there was no spell for resurrection.

Late one night as they had their dinner…

"…." Xiu sat thinking of things that have come to pass. She hadn't touched her food, even though she really didn't need it.

"Xiu what's wrong…?" Hin asked.

"The villagers threw rocks at me today… they kept saying 'See if it bleeds!' and 'Monster!'… And they've been sending you those nasty letters that you hid from me… I found them today while I was cleaning. Master Hin, I'm sorry…"

"Why are you sorry when you didn't do anything?"

"It's my fault the people say those things to you! It's my fault that you have to live so far away from town all the way out here in these hills…"

"No, it's not your fault! Besides, I like living out here; it's so peaceful." He said smiling.

Xiu hung her head and didn't say anything. Hin put down his plate and went to her and held her in his arms.

"Xiu, it's not your fault. The villagers, they… they just don't understand. One day they will accept you, and they won't do these things anymore."

Such things went on for months until one day in the village…

"I'll take two, please." Xiu said to the fruit vendor. The man gave her two of the worst apples in the cart and told her to go on her way. She sighed and turned to leave.

"HELP! RUN AWAY CART!" A young woman screamed as her horses ran uncontrolled in front of the cart they were pulling. A little boy stood in front of the cart and was too afraid to move. As the cart approached him, Xiu dove in front of him and pushed him out of the way while she was trampled. The villagers all huddled around her mangled body.

"She must be dead." One said.

"No one could live through that… What a shame." said another.

Then Xiu gasped for air and got up. Her wounds healed before them, and she looked up at their horrified faces.

"The devil brought her back again!" they shouted.

"Monster!" they screamed.

Xiu got up and ran away. She ran back to Hin's house in the hills.

Later that day, Xiu looked out the window at the villagers yelling at Hin. He was trying his hardest to keep them calm, but to no avail.

"Please! If what you say if true, then shouldn't you be grateful for Xiu saving the child?" Hin shouted.

"You want us to accept that devil?" a man yelled as everyone cheered "He's right!"

"She's accepted your cruelty! So why don't you accept her as well?"

"You brought her back! You've done the forbidden!" another man shouted.

"So what will you do?" Hin asked.

"Kill her for good!" one yelled as the others agreed together.

"So be it…" He put his hand together and a magic circle formed beneath him. " PROTECTION VEIL! A large shield formed around the house and he went back inside. The villagers pounded on the shield, thinking they could break it. Hin fell to his knees and gasped for air. Xiu knelt beside him and helped him up.

"Master Hin, please don't hurt yourself for me…" She said to him.

"No, Xiu. Please, you have to run… I can't keep the veil up much longer…"

"Master Hin, I—"

"Just go!" He pointed towards the back door. Xiu reluctantly left the house and ran into the hills.

"Xiu… goodbye." Hin collapsed from exhaustion and the veil came down. The villagers came in and set fire the house burning everything including Hin. In the hills, Xiu watched the house go up in flames and wept in her hands.

The next day she went down to the place where the ashes of the house where and fell to her knees crying.

A shadow of someone standing in front of her covered her from the sun. She looked up and saw him, Apollo, his hand out stretched to help her up.

"Humans are so cruel aren't they? You found one who cares and they killed him… I can help you get revenge on all those cruel humans who persecute us and hate us…" he said. Xiu took his hand and followed him. He taught her about the markings of power, to make her stronger than a normal homunculus. She bore the one shaped like an _F _on her face and became Apollo's follower.

"H-Hin always said, 'They'll accept you one day. One day they will realize what they are doing and they will stop.' Well they didn't! They killed him!" Xiu said while tears ran down her face.

"You followed him for revenge…?" Al asked.

"I can understand why you hate humans, Xiu, but Tohmar isn't trying to help Apollo at all. If you want we can help you save him." Ed offered.

"Why would you do that? He killed your friend."

"I know… but he said she wasn't dead, that he left some life in her. Maybe if we help him he'll help us…"

"…Alright." And Xiu joined the Elrics brothers.

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_Chapter 10 end! Liked it? Hated it? Tell me!_

_Sorry for the delay people! But I wasn't even gonna do this chapter due to the lack of reviews… so any ways!_

_STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW FOR CH10!_

_1. Sri Chou is a village similar to an ancient Chinese village. And Hin's name isn't pronounced like hen but more of "heen"._

_That's all…_

_PLEASE REVIEW! NO REVIEW NO CH 11!_


	11. Shameless

_I do not own FMA just the characters Vanity, Apollo, ect._

Chapter 11: Shameless

"Wake up!" Vanity yelled as she shook Envy in his bed. "You don't even need to sleep so you don't need to over sleep! Get up you lazy…!"

Envy groaned, pulled the covers over his head and muttered what sounded like "five more minutes."

"Get up, Envy, before Dante gets mad!"

Envy glared at her then grabbed her wrists and pulled her down in the bed next to him as he held her like a big teddy bear, just to scare her. She screamed then struggled to be free by kicking and hitting him. He finally got bored of this and grabbed her shoulders and slammed her into the bed as he sat on top of her in a mount like fashion.

"Why are you struggling, Slave? Dante said you had to do ANYTHING I said right?" she gave him a horrified look as he came closer to her face. "So when I say 'five more minutes' I mean 'five more minutes' got that?"

Just then the door opened and Lust stood in the doorway with Gluttony peeking in from behind her. "Abusing your authority aren't you?" she said to Envy as she gave him a disgusted look.

"Heh, I wasn't going to do anything… I was just teaching my little slave here a lesson, right, Slave?" She gave him a blank look and started to struggle to be free again. He glared at her and tightened his grip on her shoulders, digging his nails into her skin. "So what did we learn…?"

She winced from the pain then finally blurted out, "That I should obey Master Envy when he says 'five more minutes!'"

He gave her an evil grin and replied, "Good!" he then got off of her and left the room.

She sat up, rubbing her shoulders from the pain. She looked at her hands and saw a small amount of blood that came from her shoulder. She decided not to leave his room for fear that he'd be angry at her for leaving without "permission." So she sat there, staring at the plain walls of the dark little room, feeling like everything that was happening meant nothing at all.

Lust, followed by Gluttony, lead Envy into Dante's room where she sat reading another alchemy book. "And just what took so long, Envy? Didn't feel like getting up to come see me?" Dante asked.

"No, he was too busy playing with his new 'toy'…" Lust answered.

Envy just sat down on a couch ignoring Lust's comment.

"I swear, Envy, have you no shame? Never the less there is something I'd like you and Vanity to take care of… I'd like you to go to the military HQ and find out where the Elrics ran off to. We've recently lost track of them since the incident in Reisenbool."

"Feh, and HOW do you expect me to pull that off? Sure I can shape shift and go in undetected but Vanity…"

"Use her other ability… you think she can only make a random shield? As for how you make her use it is up to you."

He got up and left the room with Lust. Dante sighed and muttered, "I've done what you asked…" She looked into the shadows at a dark figure in the corner.

"Excellent work, Dante, don't worry, I will grant you wish soon enough…" a voice said from the corner and the figure disappeared.

Envy walked back to his room thinking of what Dante meant. He opened the door and Vanity shot up and greeted him. He gave her a blank look and told her to sit back down as he told her what Dante said.

"My other power? But I don't even know how to control the shield…" She said.

"Can't you make and invisible one? You know, one that'll hide you?"

"I dunno… let's see…" She stood up and closed her eyes. She concentrated hard on making her self invisible, but nothing happened.

"OK, nothings happening… now sit down you look really stupid doing that."

Just as he said this, Vanity began to sink into the shadow beneath her until she was no longer visible.

"Of course… shadow manipulation. You must've used it to create the shield and you can use it to hide in a shadow. My dear, it looks like you've finally become a little bit useful."

She came back out from the shadow and looked down at her self, trying to make sure she could be seen again. "I-I really did it!"

Meanwhile in Exire…

"Where's Xiu?" Shota groaned. He looked out the window at the city of Exire then looked back at Ruiisu as if he had the answer.

"She's not coming back…" He replied.

"Why not? She went to go find those human brothers right? So you think they did what they did to my brother…?"

"…You wouldn't understand, boy."

"What do you mean—" Just as he spoke, Tohmar entered the room from Apollo's room.

"Miss Tohmar! How is he…?" Shota asked.

"He's fine, but… Xiu hasn't returned has she?" She asked.

"No… do you think she's…"

"It matters not. We will find these brothers soon enough and without your help, Ruiisu." She glared at him as she spoke.

"How are we gonna find them without Ruiisu… and Xiu's not gonna come back. So how are we gonna find them?" Shota asked.

"…I have my ways."

Ruiisu stood and bowed down towards the door. Tohmar and Shota looked at him as if he was crazy.

"What are you doing you blind idiot?" Tohmar said. She looked behind her and saw that Apollo had come into the room at that time.

"I'd appreciate it… if you didn't insult my friend." He said as he walked past her.

"M-Master Apollo, where are you going?" She asked.

"Taking a walk, don't follow. I'd like to be alone…"

"Y-Yes sir!" she replied as he left the room.

Back in Central, Envy and Vanity stood outside of the military HQ. He transformed into a random officer and signaled for her to disappear. She nodded then sunk into his shadow and followed him in it into the building. She still wasn't too good with her power, she would sometimes fall behind and her shadow would slightly appear and she'd have to catch up to blend with Envy's shadow.

Envy walked into Colonel Mustang's office and saluted him. Although Mustang didn't recognize who he was he still greeted him the same.

"Colonel Mustang, sir, Fuher Bradley would like to know the current location of the Elric brothers." He said.

"Where they are? Why would he want to know that?" Roy replied.

"I'm not sure, Sir, but he says it's urgent…"

"Well, They haven't returned from they're leave to Reisenbool…. We haven't heard from them recently, right Hawkeye?" Mustang said as he looked towards Hawkeye, who was filing some papers away. She nodded then when back to her work.

Envy nodded then left the room. Mustang put his hand to his face as he leaned over his desk.

"Something wrong, sir?" Riza asked.

"I just don't get it… Why would the Fuher want to know were the Elrics are now?"

She didn't respond and went back to filing the papers and left Mustang to think.

Envy walked into the Fuher's office where he was stopped by his secretary.

"Excuse me; did the Fuher call for you?" She asked.

"Oh relax, Sloth, it's me." Envy said as he transformed back into himself. Vanity took this time to rise from the shadow and stood behind Envy.

"Oh, is there something you need or did Dante send you?"

"No, I wanted to ask you and Pride something…" He walked over to a couch and casually flopped onto it. Vanity followed him but just sat on the couch.

"What is it?" Pride said as he entered the room.

"We were told by Dante to come here and find out where that bastard's runts were, but couldn't she just have asked you two directly? Why send us out here when all she had to do was pick up a phone?" Envy explained.

"Hmm… I'm not sure…" Pride answered as he and Sloth exchanged confused glances.

Outside of Exire, Xiu had convinced the gatekeeper to let them in. They walked through the seemingly empty streets, because it was now dark out. They decided to stay at an inn and confront Apollo and the others tomorrow.

"Are you sure it's alright with you to stay here tonight? I understand that you must be eager to see your friend again…" Xiu said.

"Yeah, it is late and all so we might as well rest…" Ed replied.

"Besides, Xiu, you got us here so you deserve to rest too." Al stated.

"Yes, but I don't need to rest…" Xiu replied. "I am, after all, a homunculus."

They sat there, most of the night discussing what they would do and say to Apollo. Xiu reassured them that she trusted them and that they should trust her. She had abandoned her other motives in order to help them. Soon, there was a knock at the door.

"Who could that be?" Al asked.

"I'll get it." Xiu said as she went to open the door. She opened it then suddenly gave a yelp as she took a few steps back and fell to her knees. Apollo stepped into the room and smiled down at her.

"Hello, Xiu, so this is where you've been…" he said as he closed the door behind him.

She looked up at him with a horrified expression then slumped over in a sort of bowing down fashion. "I-I'm sorry, master, but… my allegiance is with them!"

He knelt down and lifted her chin so her eyes met his and he gave her a sorrowful smile. "Xiu… you want to help these humans save their friend? That is so like you, my dear…"

"Leave her alone!" Ed yelled as he glared at Apollo.

"Tell me, Edward, why are your eyes so filled with hate? You hate me don't you? But it is not all hate that I see now… it's also fear. Are you afraid of me?"

"I hate you because you killed Winry!"

"I didn't kill her, Edward. Although only draining part of her life wasn't as satisfying to my… condition as taking it all, I couldn't bring myself to kill a human. As much as they deserve death, it isn't my place to take all their lives."

"Those markings kill you while at the same time they give you power… Is that why you hate humans? Did your creator give you those markings?" Al asked.

"You're very observant, Alphonse, but no I wasn't given these… I did this to myself to protect… her" He said while looking down at his hand.

"If Winry's still alive why did you take her?" Ed asked.

"Heh, isn't it obvious? I want you to help me and I'll help you."

"You want to trade? Vanity for Winry…"

"And Xiu here can help you…" He smiled down at her as she still was hunched over on the ground.

"Apollo, why do you want Vanity? Did you know Vanity when she was human?" Al asked.

"I did… but she wasn't Vanity then…"

"That is what you want right? Vanity for Winry…" Ed said.

"Yes… your Vanity… my Minerva…"

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_Chapter 11: END!_

_Hooray it's ch11! I can understand that some of you probably didn't enjoy the Envy X Vanity part in the beginning or the shadow thing… I had to… it's essential to the story! I'm sorry for the shortness of the chapter, but I promise a long one next time!_

_NO STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW! (For now)_

_PLEASE REVIEW! NO REVIEW NO CH12! (Please, no flames… but that's not gonna stop you right?)_


	12. Minerva

_Disclaimer: I do not own FMA just the characters Vanity, Apollo, ect._

Chapter 12: Minerva

About 50 years ago…

Ricardo Faltama walked into the office of the guild master to sign up for the guild. He was followed closely by the boy whose creation inspired him to join the inventors' guild in the first place, his "son," Apollo.

"Ah, there you are, Rick! Finally decide to join up huh?" the man said.

"Yes, Woltar, I've finally made up my mind."

"And may I ask what helped you make up your mind?"

He looked at Apollo who was curiously looking around the room.

"Well, may I ask that your son step outside while we discuss the details?" Woltar said.

"Y-Yes." He motioned for Apollo to leave the room and he left.

Outside of the room, Apollo sat on a small couch and waited for his father. He looked up to see a girl coming towards the door. She placed her ear to the door to listen in. Apollo looked at her strangely then spoke up. "He's meeting with my father now…"

"Oh! I knew it… it's so hard to just talk to your own father when he's the guild master…" She said as she sat next to Apollo on the couch. He continued to look at her. She had long dark brown hair and pretty green eyes. She wore a beautiful dress with plain boots and a ribbon in her hair.

"If you don't mind me asking… what were you going to ask your father?" Apollo asked.

"I wanted to join the guild as an alchemist, but… I need a master because I'd have to enter as an apprentice…"

"My father is an… alchemist too…"

"Really? Maybe he'd take me as his apprentice!"

Just then the doors opened and the two men stepped out. The girl got up and looked Faltama in the eyes and asked. "MAY I PLEASE BE YOUR APPRENTICE, SIR?"

"….?" Faltama was a little shocked.

"Gah, sorry 'bout her, Rick, she's been wanting to join the guild as an alchemist for some time…" Woltar said.

"Well, I don't see why not, after all your father did let me join; I suppose I can return the favor."

"Really!" Her face lit up with joy.

"Yes, and what is your name miss?"

"Minerva! I'm Minerva Taldia."

A few weeks passed as Minerva worked under Faltama's instruction. She often talked to Apollo yet, he still seemed so mysterious to her. Then, one day by the river.

"Apollo, there you are!" Minerva called to him. He lay there in the grass by the river watching the clouds pass. She ran down to him with a basket of food and set it next to him as she sat down.

"What is it? Did my father send you?" He asked.

"No, I was on a break and I thought you'd want something to eat!" She opened the basket and handed him a bread roll. He looked at her like she was crazy.

"I don't need that…"

"Why not? You must be hungry."

"Ah… I don't need it…." He said remembering that she didn't know about who he really was.

"If you say so…" She said as she ate the roll and sat with by the river, watching the clouds pass.

"Why did you want to be an… alchemist, Minerva?"

"I just always wanted to help people, and I found that I had some talent for alchemy so… But why do you ask?"

"…No reason." He didn't look at her until she put her hand on his shoulder.

"Why do you always seem so uncomfortable with alchemy?"

"I said no reason… just leave it at that."

Another long period of silence followed. Minerva looked at Apollo again and spoke up.

"You don't look a lot like your father… you must take after your mother, right?"

He looked at her with his crimson eyes then looked back at the rushing river water.

"Oh I'm sorry! Did I say something bad...?"

He got up and held his hand out to her. "Let's go, Minerva, I'm sure my father is looking for you."

They started back to the house when a group of boys, about 16 years of age, approached them.

"Look, the monster has a girlfriend!" one boy said.

"Isn't she the guild master's daughter? So the monster took his master's daughter?" another said.

"Apollo… what do they mean?" Minerva asked.

"… Let us through, you brats…" Apollo said.

"No way, you tried to eat my sister you monster!" an older boy yelled.

"Apollo would never 'eat' someone and he's not a monster!" Minerva yelled.

"He IS a monster! He should die! His father never married and he never had a kid! And that guy never ages! Apollo just appeared!" another boy replied.

"That doesn't make him a monster!"

A couple boys ran past her and hit Apollo across the face. He went to fight back but he was too weak. Minerva tried to pull them off of him but he couldn't and they held her back.

"LET ME GO!" she screamed as she struggled.

Apollo finally got the boys off of him and when to free Minerva, but another boy knocked him down and stood on his back to keep him down.

"What's the matter monster? Aren't you gonna save your girlfriend?"

He got up and hit the boy across the face but before he could free Minerva, another boy came at him with a pocket knife. Apollo didn't see it coming and ran into him and the boy stabbed him in the stomach. The boy looked at him, horrified at what he had just done. He and the others ran off screaming leaving Minerva and Apollo.

"A-Apollo? Get up, Apollo, please wake up…" She knelt down beside him and flipped him over to reveal a large bloody stain on his shirt and his wound was still bleeding. Horrified she fell back off of her knees and stared at him trembling at the sight of him lying there, bleeding and dying. She began to cry and buried her face in her hands until she heard him coughing.

"M-Minerva, please don't cry…" he said as he slowly got up. She just stared at him horrified at not only that he could still move but that his would was healing right before her eyes!

"H-how can you…? How can you still sit up?" She asked with a quiver in her voice.

"…They're right about me, Minerva, I am a monster… I can't die, I don't need to eat, I don't need to sleep, I don't age… I'm a homunculus." He said all while avoiding her eye contact.

"A homunculus…? But how? That's impossible... is that why you don't like alchemy…? Did your father…?"

"My father made me… but he failed completely! He never gave anything to make me... so I am weak and sickly. Even though I can't die I'm forced to suffer as a homunculus who has no power or strength…"

She reached out to him and held him. "I'll protect you, Apollo. I don't care what you are you're still Apollo Faltama to me…"

A few months passed and Minerva continued to learn under Faltama's teaching. She also began to share more things and learn more about Apollo. Faltama could see that Apollo started to develop feelings for Minerva and worried for him. But, despite all of his warnings, Apollo continued to love her and want to protect her more and more. Until one day everything changed.

Minerva was walking home from buying some medicine for her ill father when she noticed them. Three shady looking men had been following her for some time. Frightened, she began to run and they chased her. They chased her into a dead end and she turned to face her followers.

"Stay back!" she yelled as one of them grabbed her arm.

"Aww come on, Missy, we just want to have some fun." One of the men said, his breathe reeked of alcohol.

"I said stay back!" She screamed as she kicked the first man and tried to run away, but one of the others grabbed her.

"APOLOGIZE FER THAT YOU BITCH!" he yelled as he ripped the ribbon from her hair.

"EEK!" she screamed and kicked at them but they wouldn't let her go. They continued to rip at her clothes and pull at her hair as she continued to scream.

"STOP YER YELLING!" the man she had kicked had silenced her by gripping her throat and he continued to squeeze. She could no longer breathe and felt herself slipping away. The only thing she could think of in her final moments was him.

_Apollo…_

They found her body the next day. The woman from the bread stand saw her lying in the alley. The guild master's office was closed that day. It rained all day that day too. Faltama was devastated, but not as much as Apollo. He never left his room that day. He thought, _"What could I have done to protect her. If only I weren't so... weak."_

"_I'll protect you, Apollo. I don't care what you are you're still Apollo Faltama to me…"_

From then on he cursed himself for being weak. Faltama couldn't stand to see his "son" in such pain. Even though homunculi don't have real emotions, it seemed as though, for that time, Apollo did. Faltama finally decided to try a human transmutation and bring Minerva back. He'd done it before with Apollo so he figured he can do it again.

One night, Apollo heard his father scream in pain. He ran to the basement where Faltama was. He was clutching at his face, his left eye and cheek bone where gone. Apollo saw, beneath the clearing smoke, a human transmutation circle and blood everywhere.

"N-No, Apollo, stay back!" Faltama warned.

Ignoring his command, Apollo ran to his father. "What happened! Father, why are you hurt?"

"I thought I could… bring her back… I failed."

"Thought you could bring her back….?" He looked into the clearing smoke and saw a person run behind a desk. He got up to investigate and looked behind the desk. There he found a girl huddled up behind the desk, shivering and hiding her face in her knees.

"Are you ok…? Who are you…?" He asked as he put his hand out to her. He then noticed a red dragon tattoo on her stomach and, for some reason, felt his chest tighten.

"_What IS that?"_

She had a jar of mess-up philosopher's stones that Faltama kept. It looked as though she was eating them. Apollo put his hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him. He jumped back in shock, for the girls face was the same as his beloved.

"M-Minerva…?"

"…?" The girl gave him a confused look then replied, "Who is 'Minerva?' My name is… Vanity."

From that day on, Apollo watched over Vanity. She claimed that she wasn't Minerva, but Apollo and his father knew the truth. Apollo didn't want to make the same mistake again so he studied on how to become stronger. Faltama cursed himself for making Vanity. The patch over his left eye reminded him daily.

"_Such a sinful creature… My son, do not fall for her tricks… for she is not your beloved Minerva…"_

One day, while in his office, Faltama heard his son's screams coming from the basement. He ran to see what was wrong only to find Vanity watching Apollo squirm in pain on the floor. She had an emotionless stare in her eyes as she watched him scream. Faltama ran past her and helped Apollo up.

"What happened, Apollo? What did she do to you?"

"It's ok father…. I've finally found a way to become stronger! Now I can protect her…" He said while breathing heavily. He removed his hand from his face to show a marking, one of a black circle above a diamond below his left eye.

"No! Apollo, my son, do not do this again! She's not worth it! She's just a monster, she's just my sin!"

Apollo slapped his father across the face. "HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT! Am I not your 'sin' too? Am I not a 'monster'? Let's go, Minerva, I promise to protect you from HIM…" He took Vanity by the wrist a lead her away while still holding his face in pain.

This same thin happened a few times. Apollo then had almost all of his body covered in alchemic markings. He became everything his father didn't want him to. He became power-hungry and his judgment was clouded by his goal, to protect Vanity.

"M…Minerva!" He wheezed as he stepped out of the basement once again. His entire body was now covered in the markings. "Look, Minerva, I've done it! I'm so powerful now, no one will harm us!" He was shocked to find Vanity with his father. His father had his hands around her throat, ready to finish the job.

"LET HER GO!" He kicked his father off of her and helped Vanity up. "How dare you try and kill her! Know your place, human!"

"Apollo! Do you not see it? Has your eyes been so clouded with power that you haven't noticed? I made you with out powers so you could never be like this. And so I created her with out emotions so she will never love you back!"

"YOU LIE! Minerva does have emotions… You love me right, Minerva?"

"… Who is 'Minerva?' I am Vanity." she said with a cold stare. Apollo didn't understand, but before he could speak he began to cough uncontrollably. He looked at his hands to see blood and he became afraid.

"THIS is what those markings do to you, my son. They're trying to turn your body into a philosopher's stone so they take your life to feed it. You will die soon because of your power hungry ways. And I will dispose of my sin…" He turned to Vanity and held up Minerva's ribbon. It still had some of her hair on it so it caused her to freeze in her tracks. He then pressed his hands to the sealing circle below her that he had made for her before Apollo came in.

"STOP IT! LEAVE HER ALONE, HUMAN!"

"You cannot even call me 'father' anymore… I am sorry, my son…"

Vanity then began to vomit the stones she had eaten that day. When she was done she tried to reach out for Apollo. "Help me… Apollo…" She then fell and lay on the circle lifeless.

"MINERVA!" he screamed, but he soon lost consciousness. Faltama laid Vanity in a glass box covered in the same markings as the seal circle and closed the coffin. He then turned to his son. "This is the last thing I shall do for you, my son…" He put a stone in his mouth to feed the markings then left him a note.

"_My dearest Apollo I'll be burning here on Star IV…"_

When he woke, Apollo found the note along with a few more stones to keep him alive. He left the town to find his father and Minerva and continued to kill to stay alive.

Present day, on a train to Central…

"Brother… do you think we should help him...? I feel really bad for Apollo, but…" Al said to his brother.

"I dunno… but it makes you think. Who do you think was right? Apollo or Faltama?" Ed replied.

Xiu remained silent, still contemplating what Tohmar's next move would be…

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

_CHAPTER 12: END_

_Sorry for the LATE UPDATE! Not that anyone cares…_

_STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW!_

_1. Minerva is the name of the Roman goddess of craft and art (also of war) therefore Minerva in this story was the guild master's daughter._

_2. Apollo is the name of the Greek (and Roman) god of the sun so they were both mythological beings._

_PLEASE REVIEW! NO REVIEWS NO CH13!_


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